Camille 
Flammarion 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY 


LIBRARY 


The  Glenn  Negley  Collection 
of  Utopian  Literature 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 
in  2010  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/lumencamOOflam 


LUMEN 


The  One  Hundred  and  Forty-firtt 
0/  the  Minor  Planets,  situated 
hetwcen  Mars  and  Jupiter,  which 
was  discovered  at  the  Paris  Obser- 
vatory by  M.  Paul  Henry,  on  the 
isth  of  January  is'S,  received  the 
name  of  LVMEN  in  honour  of 
the  Author  of  this  Work. 


LUMEN 


CAMILLE  FLAMMARION 

AUTHORISBD  TRANSLATION  FROM  THE  PEBNCH 
BY 

A.  A.  M.  AND  R.  M. 

With  portions  of  the  last  chapter  written  specially 
for  the  English  Edition 


NEW    YORK 
DODD,   MEAD    AxND    COMPANY 

1897 


Copyright,  1897, 
By  Dodd,  Mead  and  Company. 


Fytj-two  thousand  copies  of  the  French  original 
of  this  volume  have  been  sold 


SSniiirrsttg  ^itss: 
John  "Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


F&dl  L 


CONTENTS 


FIRST    CONVERSATION 

PAGK 

RESURRECTIO  PR^TERITI         ....    1-63 

Death— The  soul— The  hour  of  death— Separa- 
tion of  the  soul — Sight  of  the  soul  in  Heaven — 
The  Solar  System  in  the  heavens— The  Earth 
as  seen  from  the  heavens— The  star  Capella— 
Velocity  of  light— The  terrestrial  planet  seen 
from  afar — The  worlds  seen  from  afar — Lumen 
— Lumen  sees  again  his  own  life. 


SECOND    CONVERSATION 

REFLUUM  TEMPORIS 64-105 

Journey  on  a  ray  of  light— Events  retraced — 
Re-ascending  the  Ages— Psychical  optics— Light 
and  sound — Man  organised  from  the  planet — 
The  soul  and  destiny. 


THIRD   CONVERSATION 

HOMO  HOMUNCULUS 106-128 

The  sphere  of  human  observation — Time  and 
space  —  Events  in  space  —  Time,  space,  and 
eternity. 

V 


5G1320 


CONTENTS 


FOURTH   CON\'ERSATION 

PAGE 

AJfTEEIORES  YIT^ 129-196 

Space  and  light — The  star  Gamma  in  Virgo — 
The  system  of  Gamma  in  Virgo — Former  exist- 
ence— ^The  plurality  of  existences — The  unknown 
— The  constellations — The  elements — Life  on  the 
earth — The  process  of  alimentation — Nutritive 
atmospheres — Poetry  on  the  Earth — A  humanity 
— The  organisation  of  beings — The  development 
of  life — The  genealogical  tree  of  life — The  men- 
plants — Souls  and  atoms — Other  senses — ^Atoms 
and  monads. 


FIFTH    CONVERSATION 

INGENIUM  ALT) AX :   XATURA  AUDACIOR    197-2-24 

A  world  in  Orion — Analysis  of  the  nervous 
system — The  Commune — Animated  molecules — 
Various  forms  of  life — Infinite  diversity  on  Sinus 
— Phosphorescent  passions — Lives  too  long — In- 
finite diversity — The  magnifying  power  of  time 
— A  chrono-telescope — Light. 


LUMEN 

FIRST    CONVERSATION 

RESURRECTIO    PR^TERITI 

QuiERENS.  You  promised,  dear  Lumen^  to  de- 
scribe to  me  that  supremest  of  moments  which 
immediately  succeeds  death,  and  to  relate  to 
me  how,  by  a  natural  law,  singular  though  it 
may  seem,  you  lived  again  your  past  life,  and 
penetrated  a  hitherto-unrevealed  mystery. 

Lumen.  Yes,  my  old  friend,  I  will  now  keep 
my  word ;  and  I  trust  that,  thanks  to  the  life- 
long communion  of  our  souls,  you  will  be  able 
to  understand  the  phenomenon  you  deem  so 
strange. 

There  are  many  conceptions  which  a  mortal  Life  and 

death. 
mind  finds  difficult  to  grasp.      Death,  which 

has  delivered  me  from  the  weak  and  easily- 
tired  senses  of  the  body,  has  not  yet  touched 
you  with  its  liberating  hand ;  you  still  belong 
to  the  living  world,  and  in  spite  of  your  isola- 
tion in  this  retreat  of  yours  amid  the  royal 
1  A 


LUMEN 

towers  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Jaques,  you  still 
belong  to  the  life  of  Earth,  and  are  occupied 
with  its  petty  distinctions.  You  must  not, 
therefore,  be  surprised  if,  whilst  I  am  explain- 
ing to  you  this  mystery,  I  beg  of  you  to  isolate 
yourself  still  further  from  outer  things,  and 
to  give  me  the  most  Jixed  attention  of  which 
your  mind  is  capable. 

QujERens.  My  one  desire  is  to  listen  to  your 
revelations ;  speak,  therefore,  without  fear 
and  to  the  point,  and  deign  to  acquaint  me 
with  those  impressions,  as  yet  to  me  unknown, 
which  are  experienced  upon  the  cessation  of 
life. 

Lumen.  From  what  point  do  you  wish  me  to 
begin  my  recital .'' 

Qu^RENs.    If  you  can  recall  it,  I  shall  be 
pleased  if  you  will  begin  at  the  moment  when 
ray  trembling  hands  closed  your  eyes. 
Death.  Lumen.    The    separation    of    the    thinking 

principle  from  the  nervous  system  leaves  no 
remembrance.  It  is  as  though  the  impres- 
sions made  upon  the  brain  which  constitute 
memory  were  entirely  effaced,  to  be  renewed 
afterwards  in  another  form.  The  first  sensation 
of  identity  felt  after  death  resembles  that 
which  is  felt  during  life  on  awakening  in  the 
morning,  when  still  confused  with  the  visions 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

of  the  night,  the  mind,  wavering  between  the 
past  and  the  future,  endeavours  to  recover  itself, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  retain  the  vanishing 
dreams,  the  pictures  and  events  of  which  are 
still  passing  before  it.  At  times  Avhen  thus 
absorbed  in  the  recollection  of  a  delightful 
dream,  the  eyehds  close,  and  in  a  half  slumber 
the  visions  reappear.  It  is  thus  that  our 
thinking  faculty  is  divided  at  death,  between 
a  reality  that  it  does  not  yet  comprehend  and 
a  dream  which  has  completely  disapjieared. 
The  most  conflicting  impressions  mingle  in 
and  confuse  the  mind,  and  if,  overwhelmed 
by  perishable  feelings,  a  regret  comes  into 
the  mind  for  the  world  that  has  been  left 
behind,  a  sense  of  indefinable  sadness  weighs 
upon  and  darkens  the  imagination  and  hinders 
clearness  of  vision. 

Qu^REXs.  Did  you  feel  these  sensations  im- 
mediately after  death  ? 

Lumen.  After  death  ?  There  is  no  such  So  such 
thing  as  death.  What  you  call  death— the  deS.^ 
separation  of  the  body  from  the  soul — is  not, 
strictly  speaking,  effected  in  a  material  form 
like  the  chemical  separation  of  a  combination 
of  elements  such  as  one  sees  in  the  world  of 
matter.  One  is  no  more  conscious  of  this 
final  separation,  which  seems  to  you  so  cruel, 
3 


LUMEN 

than  the  new-born  babe  is  aware  of  his  birth. 
We  are  born  into  the  heavenly  life  as  un- 
consciously as  we  were  born  into  the  earthly ; 
only  the  soul,  no  longer  enveloped  by  its 
bodily  covering,  acquires  more  rapidly  the 
consciousness  of  its  individuality  and  of  its 
powers.  This  faculty  of  perception  varies 
essentially  between  one  soul  and  another. 
There  are  those  who,  during  their  earthly 
life,  never  lift  their  souls  toward  heaven, 
and  never  feel  a  desire  to  penetrate  the  laws 
of  creation ;  these,  being  still  dominated  by 
fleshly  appetites,  remain  long  in  a  troubled  and 
semi-conscious  state.  There  are  others  whose 
aspirations  have  happily  flown  upwards  towards 
the  eternal  heights ;  to  these  the  moment  of 
separation  comes  with  calmness  and  peace. 
They  know  that  progress  is  the  law  of  being, 
Not  death,  and  that  the  life  to  come  will  be  better  than 
that  which  they  have  quitted.  They  follow, 
step  by  step,  that  lethargy  which  reaches  at 
last  to  the  heart,  and  when,  slowly  and  insen- 
sibly, the  last  pulsation  ceases,  the  departed  are 
already  above  the  body  whose  falling  asleep 
they  have  been  watching.  Freeing  them- 
selves from  the  magnetic  bonds,  they  feel 
themselves  swiftly  borne,  by  an  unknown 
force,  toward  the  point  of  creation,  to  which 


but  change. 


RESURRECTIO   PRtETERITI 

their  sentiments,  their  aspirations,  and  their 
hopes  have  drawn  them. 

Qu^RENs.  The  conversation  into  which  I 
have  drawn  you,  my  dear  master,  recalls  to 
my  memory  the  dialogues  of  Plato  on  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul ;  and  as  Phaedrus  asked  his 
master,  Socrates,  on  the  day  he  had  to  drink 
the  hemlock  in  obedience  to  the  iniquitous 
sentence  of  the  Athenians,  I  ask  you — you  who 
have  passed  the  dread  boundary — what  is  the 
essential  difference  which  distinguishes  the 
soul  from  the  body,  since  the  latter  dies,  whilst 
the  former  cannot  die  ? 

Lumen.  I  shall  not  imitate  Socrates  by  giv- 
ing a  metaphysical  answer  to  this  question, 
nor  shall  I,  with  the  theologians,  reply  in  a 
dogmatic  way ;  but  I  will  give  you  instead  a 
scientific  answer,  for  you,  like  myself,  accept  Life  viewed 
only  as  of  real  value  the  results  of  positive  caiiy. 
knowledge. 

We  find  in  the  human  being  three  principles, 
different,  and  yet  in  complete  imion  :  1.  The  body  ; 
2.  The  vital  energy ;  3.  The  soul.  I  name 
them  thus  in  order  that  I  may  follow  the  a 
posteriori  method.  The  body  is  an  association 
of  molecules  which  are  themselves  formed  of 
groups  of  atoms.  The  atoms  are  inert,  passive, 
immutable,   and   indestructible.      They   enter 


LUMEN 

into  the  organism  by  means  of  respiration  and 
alimentation ;  they  renew  the  tissues  inces- 
santly^  and  are  continually  replaced  by  others, 
and  when  cast  out  from  the  body  go  to  form 
other  bodies.  In  a  few  months  the  human 
Renewal  of  body  is  entirely  renewed,  and  neither  in  the 

the  body. 

blood,  nor  in  the  flesh,  nor  in  the  brain,  nor  in 

the  bones,  does  an  atom  remain  of  those  which 

constituted    the    body   a   few    months    before. 

Atoms  and    The  atoms  travel  without  ceasing  from  body  to 

moleculeB. 

body,  chiefly   by  the   grand   medium   of  the 

atmosphere.     The  molecule  of  iron  is  the  same 

whether  it  be  incorporated  in  the  blood  which 

throbs  in  the  temples  of  an  illustrious  man,  or 

form    part  of  a  fragment  of  rusty  iron ;  the 

molecule  of  oxygen  is  the  same  in  the  blush 

raised  by  a  loving  glance,  or  when  in   union 

with  hydrogen  it  forms  the  flame  of  one  of  the 

thousand  jets  of  gas  that  illuminate  Paris  by 

night,  or  when  it  falls  from  the  clouds  in  the 

shape  of  a  di-op  of  water.     The  bodies  of  the 

living  are  formed  of  the  ashes  of  the  dead,  and 

if  all  the  dead  were  to  be  resuscitated,  the  last 

comers  might  find  the  material  for  their  bodies 

wanting,   owing  to   their  predecessors  having 

appropriated  all  that  was  available.     Moreover, 

during  life  many  exchanges  are  made  between 

enemies  and  friends,   between  men,  animals, 
6 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

and  plants,  which  amaze  the  analyst  who  looks 
at  them  with  the  eyes  of  science.  That  which 
you  breathe,  eat,  and  drink,  has  been  breathed, 
drunk,  and  eaten  millions  of  times  before. 
Such  is  the  human  body,  an  assemblage  of 
molecules  of  matter  which  are  constantly 
being  renewed.  The  principle  by  which  these 
molecules  are  grouped  according  to  a  certain 
form  so  as  to  produce  an  organism,  is  the  vital 
energy  of  life.  The  inert,  passive  atoms,  in- 
capable of  guiding  themselves,  are  r«aled  by 
vital  force,  which  calls  them,  makes  them 
come,  takes  hold  of  them,  places  and  disposes 
of  them  according  to  certain  laws,  and  forms 
this  marvellously-organised  body,  which  the 
anatomist  and  the  physiologist  contemplate 
with  wonder. 

The  atoms  are  indestructible  ;  vital  force  is  Atoms  inde 

.         .  -I  •ill'  .1  structible. 

not :  atoms  have  no  age ;  vital  force  is  born, 
grows  old,  and  dies.  Why  is  an  octogenarian 
older  than  a  youth  of  twenty,  since  the  atoms 
of  which  his  body  is  composed  have  only 
belonged  to  his  frame  a  few  months,  and 
since  atoms  are  neither  old  nor  young  ?  The 
constituent  elements  of  his  body  when  analysed 
have  no  age,  and  what  is  old  in  him  is  solely 
his  vital  energy,  which  is  but  one  of  the  forms 
of  the  general   energy  of  the    universe,   and 


LUMEN 

Vital  energy  which  in  his  case  has  become  exhausted.  Life 
nature  and  is  transmitted  by  generation,  and  sustains  the 
™*°*  body   instinctively,   and,   as    it   were,    uncon- 

sciously. It  has  a  beginning  and  an  end.  It  is 
an  unconscious  phj'sical  force,  which  organises 
and  maintains  the  body  of  which  it  is  the  pre- 
serving element.  The  soul  is  an  intellectual, 
thinking,  immaterial  being.  The  world  of 
ideas  in  which  the  soul  lives  is  not  the  world 
of  matter.  It  has  no  age,  it  does  not  grow  old. 
It  is  not  changed  in  a  few  months  like  the 
body  :  for  after  months,  years,  dozens  of  years, 
we  feel  that  we  have  preserved  our  identity — 
that  our  ego,  ourself,  is  always  ours.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  soul  did  not  exist,  and  if  the 
faculty  of  thinking  were  only  a  function  of  the 
brain,  we  should  no  longer  be  able  to  say  that 
we  have  a  body,  for  it  would  be  our  body,  our 
brain,  that  would  have  us.  Besides,  from  time 
to  time  our  consciousness  would  change ;  we 
should  no  longer  have  a  feeling  of  identity, 
and  we  should  no  longer  be  responsible  for  the 
resolutions,  secreted  by  the  molecules,  which 
had  passed  through  the  brain  many  months 
vital  force  before.  The  soul  is  not  the  vital  force  ;  for 
that  is  limited  and  is  transmitted  by  genera- 
tion, has  no    consciousness    of  itself,  is  born, 

grows  up,  declines,  and  dies.     All  these  states 
8 


has  limits. 


RESURRECTIO    PR^TERITI 

are  opposed  to  those  of  the  soul,  which 
is  immaterial,  unlimited,  not  transmissible, 
conscious. 

The  development  of  the  vital  force  may  be 
represented  geometrically  by  a  spindle,  which 
swells  out  gi'adually  to  the  middle,  and  de- 
creases again  to  a  point.  When  the  soul 
reaches  the  middle  of  life,  it  does  not  become 
less,  like  a  spindle,  and  dwindle  down  to  the 
end,  but  follows  its  parabolic  curve  into  the 
infinite.  Moreover,  the  mode  of  existence  of 
the  soul  is  essentially  different  from  that  of  the 
vital  force.  It  hves  in  a  spiritual  way.  The 
conceptions  of  the  soul,  such  as  the  sentiments  Thesoulhas 
of  justice  or  injustice,  of  truth  or  falsehood,  of 
good  and  evil,  as  well  as  knowledge,  mathe- 
matics, analysis,  synthesis,  contemplation,  ad- 
miration, love,  affection  or  hatred,  esteem  or 
contempt — in  a  word,  the  occupations  of  the 
soul,  whatever  they  may  be,  are  of  an  intellectual 
and  moral  order,  which  neither  the  atoms  nor 
the  physical  forces  can  apprehend,  and  which 
have  as  real  an  existence  as  the  physical  order 
of  things.  The  chemical  or  mechanical  work 
of  cerebral  cells,  however  subtle  they  may  be, 
can  never  produce  an  intellectual  judgment, 
such,  for  instance,  as  the  knowledge  of  the 
fact  that  four  multiplied  by  four  is  equal  to 
9 


LUMEN 

sixteen^  or  that  the  three  angles  of  a  triangle 
are  equal  to  two  right  angles. 

These  three  elements  of  the  human  being 
are  reproduced  in  the  universe  at  large :  1 . 
The  atoms,  the  material  world  inert,  passive ; 
2.  The  physical  forces  which  regulate  the 
world,  and  which  are  continually  transformed 
into  one  another  or  into  others ;  3.  God,  the 
eternal  and  infinite  spirit,  the  intellectual  orga- 
niser of  the  mathematical  laws  which  these 
forces  obey,  the  unknown  being  in  whom 
reside  the  supreme  principles  of  truth,  of 
beauty,  of  goodness.  The  soul  can  be  attached 
to  the  body  only  by  means  of  the  vital  force. 
When  life  is  extinct  the  soul  naturally  sepa- 
rates from  the  organism  and  ceases  to  have 
any  immediate  connection  with  time  and  space. 
The  soul  After  death  the  soul  remains  in  that  part  of 
body.  the  universe  where  the  Earth  happens  to  be  at 

the  moment  of  its  separation  from  the  body. 
You  know  that  the  Earth  is  a  planet  in  the 
heavens  like  Venus  and  Jupiter.  The  Earth 
continues  to  run  in  its  orbit  at  the  rate  of 
12,700  kilometres  an  hour,  so  that  the  soul  an 
hour  after  death  is  at  that  distance  from  its 
body  because  of  its  immobility  in  space,  when 
no  longer  subject  to  the  laws  of  matter.     Thus 

we  are  in  the  heavens  immediately  after  death, 
10 


RESURRECTIO   PRtETERITI 

where,  however,  we  have  also  been  during  the 
whole  of  our  lives ;  but  we  then  had  weight 
which  held  us  to  the  Earth.  I  must  add,  how- 
ever, that  as  a  rule  the  soul  takes  some  time 
to  disengage  itself  from  the  nervous  organism, 
and  that  it  occasionally  remains  many  days, 
and  even  many  months,  magnetically  connected 
with  the  old  body,  which  it  is  reluctant  to 
forsake.  Moreover,  it  has  special  faculties  by 
means  of  which  it  can  transport  itself  from  one 
point  of  space  to  another. 

Qu^RENs.  Now  for  the  first  time  I  am  able 
to  understand  death  as  a  natural  process,  and 
to  comprehend  the  individual  existence  of  the 
soul,  its  independence  of  the  body  and  of  life, 
its  personality,  its  survival,  and  its  obvious  posi- 
tion in  the  universe.  This  synthetic  theory 
has  prepared  me,  I  hope,  to  understand  and 
appreciate  your  revelation.  But  you  said  that 
a  singular  event  struck  you  on  your  entrance 
into  the  eternal  life  ;  at  what  moment  did  that 
take  place  } 

Lumen.  Well,  my  dear  friend,  let  me  go  on  The  hour  of 

death. 
with  my  story.     Midnight  had  just  struck,  you 

will  remember,  on  the  sonorous  bell  of  my  old 

timepiece,  and  the  full  Moon  shed  its  pale  light 

on    my  dying   bed,    when    my    daughter,   my 

grandson,  and  other  friends  withdrew  to  take 
11 


LUMEN 

some  rest.  You  wished  to  remain  witn  me, 
and  you  promised  my  daughter  not  to  leave 
me  till  the  morning.  I  would  thank  you  for 
your  warm  and  tender  devotion  if  we  were  not 
so  truly  brothers.  We  had  been  alone  about 
half-an-hour,  for  the  star  of  night  was  declin- 
ing, when  I  took  your  hand  and  told  you  that 
life  had  already  abandoned  my  extremities. 
You  assured  me  that  it  was  not  so ;  but  I  was 
calmly  observing  my  physiological  state,  and  I 
knew  that  in  a  few  moments  I  should  cease  to 
breathe.  You  moved  gently  towards  the  room 
where  my  children  were  sleeping,  but  concen- 
trating my  powers  by  an  extreme  effort  I  stopped 
you.  Returning  with  tears  in  your  eyes,  you 
said  to  me,  "  You  are  right ;  you  have  given 
them  your  last  wishes,  and  to-morrow  morning 
will  be  time  enough  to  send  for  them."  There 
was  in  these  words  a  contradiction  that  I  felt 
without  expressing  it  to  you.  Do  you  remember 
that  then  I  asked  you  to  open  the  window.  It 
was  a  beautiful  night  in  October;  more  beautiful 
than  those  of  the  Scottish  bards  sung  by  Ossian. 
Not  far  from  the  horizon,  just  level  with  my 
eyes,  I  could  distinguish  the  Pleiades,  veiled 
by  mist,  whilst  Castor  and  Pollux  floated 
triumphantly  a  little  higher  up.  Above,  form- 
ing a  triangle  with  them,  shone  the  beautiful 
12 


RESURRFXTIO    PR^TERITI 

star  with  rays  of  gold,  which,  on  maps  of  the 

zodiac,  is  marked   "  Capella."      You  see  how 

clearly  I  remember  it  all.   When  you  had  opened 

the  window  the  perfume  of  the  roses,  sleeping 

under  the  wings  of  night,  ascended  upwards  to 

me  and  mingled  with  the  silent  rays  of  the  stars.  Lastim- 

I  cannot  express  to  you  how  sweet  were  these  the  parting 

last  impressions  that  I  received  from  the  Earth  ;  ^'^"^' 

language  fails  me  to  describe  what  I  felt.     In 

the  hours   of   my  sweetest    happiness,  of  my 

tenderest  love,  I  never  felt  such  an  intensity  of 

joy,  so  glorious  a  serenity,  such  real  bliss,  as  I 

experienced  then  in  the  ecstatic  enjoyment  of 

the  perfumed  breath  of  the  flowers  and   the 

tender  gleam  of  the  distant  stars.  .  .  .  When  Separation 

of  the  soul. 
you  bent  over  me  I  seemed  to  return  to  the 

outer  world,  and  with  my  hands  clasped  over 

my  breast,  my  sight  and  my  thoughts,  united 

in    prayer,    together    took    flight    into   space. 

Before  my  ears  closed  for  ever  I  heard  the  last 

words  as  they  fell  from  my  lips  :   "  Adieu  !  my 

old  friend,  I  feel  that  death  is  bearing  me  away 

to  those  unknown  regions  where  I  trust  we  shall 

one  day  meet.     When  the  dawn  effaces  these 

stars,  only  my  mortal  body  will  be  here.    Repeat 

then  to  my  daughter  my  last  wish  :  to  bring  up 

her  childx'en  in  the  contemplation  of  the  eternal 

goodness."     And  whilst  you  wept,  as  you  knelt 
13 


LUMEN 

by  my  bed,  I  added,  "  Recite  the  beautiful 
prayer  of  Jesus,"  and  you  began  with  trembling 
voice,  "  Our  Father,  ,  .  .  Forgive  us  .  .  .  our 
trespasses,  .  .  .  as  we  .  .  .  forgive  those  .  .  . 
that  .  .  .  trespass  .  .  .  against  us.  ..." 
These  were  the  last  thoughts  that  passed 
through  my  soul  by  means  of  the  senses ;  my 
sight  grew  dim  as  I  looked  at  the  star  Capella, 
and  immediately  I  became  unconscious. 
Time  does  Years,  days,  and  houi's  are  constituted  by 
outside  the  the  movements  of  the  Earth.  In  space,  outside 
Earth.  these  movements  time  does  not  exist;  indeed, 
it  is  impossible  to  have  any  notion  of  time.  I 
think,  however,  that  the  event  I  am  now  going 
to  describe  to  you  occurred  on  the  very  day  of 
my  death,  for,  as  you  will  see  presently,  my 
body  was  not  yet  buried  when  this  vision  ap- 
peared to  my  soul. 

As  I  was  born  in  1793,  I  was  then,  in  1864, 
in  my  seventy-second  year,  so  I  was  not  a  little 
surprised  to  find  myself  animated  b}'^  a  vivacity 
of  mind  as  ardent  as  in  the  prime  of  my  life. 
I  had  no  body,  and  yet  I  was  not  incorporeal ; 
I  felt  and  saw  that  I  was  constituted  of  a  sub- 
stance which,  however,  bore  no  analogy  to  the 
material  form  of  terrestrial  bodies.  I  know 
not  how  I  traversed  the  celestial  spaces,  but  by 

some  unknown  force  I  soon  found  that  I  was 
14 


RESURRECTIO   PRiETERITI 

approaching  a  magnificent  golden  sun^  the 
splendour  of  which  did  not,  however,  dazzle 
me.  I  perceived  that  it  was  surrounded  by  a 
number  of  worlds,  each  enveloped  in  one  or 
naore  rings.  By  the  same  unconscious  force 
I  was  driven  towards  one  of  these  rings,  and 
was  a  spectator  of  the  marvellous  phenomena 
of  light,  for  the  starry  spaces  were  crossed 
everywhere  by  rainbow  bridges.  I  lost  sight 
of  the  golden  sun,  and  I  found  myself  in  a 
sort  of  night  coloured  with  hues  of  a  thousand 
shades.  The  sight  of  my  soul  far  exceeded 
that  of  my  body,  and,  to  my  surprise,  this 
power  of  sight  appeared  to  be  subject  to  my 
Avill.  The  sight  of  the  soul  is  so  marvellous  Sight  of  the 
that  I  must  not  stop  to-day  to  describe  it.  Lavens.  ^ 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  instead  of  seeing  the  stars 
in  the  heavens  as  you  see  them  on  the  Earth,  I 
could  distinguish  clearly  the  worlds  revolving 
round  each  other ;  and  strange  to  say,  when  I 
desired  to  examine  more  closely  these  worlds, 
and  to  avoid  the  brilliance  of  the  central  sun, 
it  disappeared  from  my  sight,  and  left  me 
under  the  most  favourable  conditions  for  ob- 
serving any  one  of  them  I  wished.^     Further, 

'  Physiological  anatomy  would  probably  explain  this 
fact  by  suggesting  that  a  sort  of  punctum  ececum  is  dis- 
placed in  order  to  conceal  the  object  that  one  does 
not  wish  to  see. 

15 


LUMEN 

when  my  attention  was  concentrated  on  one 
particular  world,  I  could  distinguish  its  con- 
tinents and  its  seas,  its  clouds  and  its  rivers, 
although  they  did  not  appear  to  become  larger, 
as  objects  seen  through  a  telescope  do.  I  saw 
any  special  thing  that  I  fixed  my  sight  upon, 
such  as  a  town  or  a  tract  of  country,  with 
perfect  clearness  and  distinctness. 
The  Boui  When  I  reached  this  ringed  world  I  found 

clothed  In  a 

new  body,  myseli  clothed  in  a  form  like  that  of  its 
inhabitants.  It  appeared  that  my  soul  had 
attracted  to  itself  the  constituent  atoms  of  a 
new  body.  Living  bodies  on  the  Earth  are 
composed  of  molecules  which  do  not  touch 
one  another,  and  which  are  constantly  re- 
newed by  respiration,  by  nutrition,  and  by 
assimilation.  The  envelope  of  the  soul  is 
formed  more  quickly  in  that  far-off  world. 
I  felt  myself  more  alive  than  the  supernatural 
beings  whose  passions  and  sorrows  Dante  cele- 
brates. One  of  the  special  faculties  of  this 
new  world  is  that  of  seeing  very  far. 

Qu^RENS.  But  pardon  a  rather  simple  re- 
mark. Is  it  not  likely  that  the  worlds  or 
planets  that  revolve  round  each  star  must 
mingle  in  a  distant  view  with  their  central 
sun ;  for  instance,  when  you  see  our  Sun  from 

afar  with  the  planets  of  his  system,  is  it  pos- 
16 


RESURRECTIO   PR.ETERITI 

sible  for  you  to  distinguish  our  Earth  amongst 
them  ? 

Lumen.  You  have  raised  the  single  geo- 
metrical objection  which  seems  to  contradict 
all  previous  experience.  In  point  of  fact,  at 
a  certain  distance  the  planets  are  absorbed  in 
their  suns,  and  our  terrestrial  eyes  would  have 
difficulty  in  distinguishing  them.  You  know 
that  from  Saturn  the  Earth  is  invisible.  But 
you  must  remember  that  this  discrepancy  arises  The  soul  s 
as  much  from  the  imperfection  of  our  sight  as  ^ToT  ° 
from  the  geometrical  law  of  the  decrease  of 
surfaces.  Now,  in  the  world  on  which  I  had 
just  landed,  the  inhabitants  are  not  incarnated 
in  a  gross  form,  as  we  are  here  below,  but 
are  free  beings,  and  endowed  with  eminently 
powerful  faculties  of  perception.  They  can, 
as  I  have  told  you,  isolate  the  source  of  light 
from  the  object  lighted,  and,  moreover,  they 
can  perceive  distinctly  details  which  at  that 
distance  would  be  absolutely  hidden  from  the 
eyes  of  those  dwelling  upon  this  Earth. 

Qu^RENS.  Do  they  make  use,  then,  of  in- 
struments superior  to  our  telescopes  } 

Lumen.  Well,  if,  in  order  to  realise  this  mar- 
vellous faculty,  you  find  it   easier  to  suppose 
that  they  possess  such  instruments,  you  may  do 
so,  in  theory.     Imagine  a  telescope  which,  by 
17  B 


LUMEN 

a  succession  of  lenses  and  an  arrangement  of 
diaphragms^  brings  near  in  succession  these 
distant  worlds,  and  isolates  each  one  in  the 
field  of  view  in  order  to  study  it  separately.  I 
should  also  inform  you  that  these  beings  are 
endowed  with  a  special  sense  by  which  they 
can  regulate  at  will  the  powers  of  their  marvel- 
lous organs  of  sight. 

And  you  must  further  understand  that  this 
power  and  this  regulation  of  vision  are  natural 
in  those  worlds,  and  not  supernatural.  In 
order  to  conceive  of  the  faculties  possessed  by 
these  ultra-terrestrial  beings,  reflect  for  a  mo- 
ment upon  the  eyes  of  some  insects — of  those, 
for  instance,  which  have  the  power  to  draw  in, 
to  lengthen  out,  or  to  flatten  the  crystalline 
lens  so  as  to  make  it  magnify  in  different  de- 
grees ;  or  of  those  which  can  concentrate  on 
the  field  of  view  a  multitude  of  eyes  in  order 
to  bring  them  to  bear  upon  the  desired  object. 
Qu^RENs.  Yes,  I  can  imagine  it  to  be  pos- 
sible. Then  you  are  able  to  see  the  Earth,  and 
to  distinguish  from  above  even  the  towns  and 
villages  of  our  lower  world  ? 
Lumen  on  a  LuMEN.  Let  me  proceed  with  my  desci-iption. 
I  found  myself  then  upon  the  ring-shaped  world, 
the  size  of  which  I  told  you  is  great  enough  to 

make   two  hundred  worlds  like  yours.      The 
18 


RESURRECTIO    PR^TERITI 

mountain  on  which  I  stood  was  covered  with 
trees  woven  into  arboreal  palaces.  These  fairy- 
like chateaux  seemed  to  me  either  to  grow 
naturally^  or  else  to  be  produced  by  a  skilful 
arrangement  of  branches  and  of  tall  flowering 
plants.  The  town^  where  I  entered  it^  was 
thickly  peopled,  and  on  the  summit  of  the 
mountain  I  noticed  a  group  of  old  men,  twenty 
or  thirty  in  number,  who  were  looking  with 
the  most  fixed  and  anxious  attention  at  a 
beautiful  star  in  the  southern  constellation  of 
the  Altar  on  the  confines  of  the  Milky  Way. 
They  did  not  observe  my  arrival  amongst 
them,  so  absorbed  were  they  in  observing  and 
examining  this  star,  or  perhaps  one  of  the 
worlds  belonging  to  its  system. 

As  for  myself,  I  became  aware,  on  arriving  in 
this  atmosphere,  that  I  was  clothed  in  a  body 
resembling  that  of  its  inhabitants,  and  to  my 
still  gi-eater  surj^yrise   I   heard    these  old   men 
speaking  of  the  Earth — yes,  of  the  Earth  in 
that  universal  spirit-language  which  all  beings  Lumen 
comprehend  from  the  Eei-aj)him  to  the  trees  of  h^nguage  of 
the  forest.       And  not  only  were  they  talking  ^^^^  *" 
about  the  Earth,  but  about  France.     "  What 
can  be  the  meaning  of  these  legal  massacres  ?  " 
they    said.      '■  Is  it  possible   that  brute   force 
reigns  supreme  there  ?    Will  civil  war  decimate 
19 


LUMEN 

these  people,  and  will  rivers  of  blood  run  in  this 
capital,  at  one  time  so  magnificent  and  so  gay?" 
I  could  not  follow  the  drift  of  this  speech,  I 
who  had  just  come  from  the  Earth  with  the 
swiftness  of  thought,  and  Avho  but  yesterday 
had  breathed  in  the  heart  of  this  tranquil  and 
peaceful  capital.  I  joined  the  group,  fixing 
my  eyes,  as  they  did,  on  the  beautiful  star, 
and  I  tried  at  the  same  time  to  understand 
what  they  were  talking  about.  Presently  I 
saw  to  the  left  of  the  star  a  pale-blue  sphere 
— that  was  the  Earth. 

You  are  aware,  my  friend,  that,  notwith- 
standing the  apparent  paradox,  the  Earth  is 
really  a  star  in  the  sky,  as  I  reminded  you  just 
now.  Seen  from  one  of  the  stars  compara- 
tively near  to  your  system,  it  appears  to  the 
The  Solar  spiritual  sight,  of  which  I  have  told  you,  like 
in  the  a  family  of  stars  composed  of  eight  principal 

heavens.  ^vorlds  crowding  round  the  Sun,  which  is  itself 
reduced  to  a  star.  Jupiter  and  Saturn  first 
arrest  the  attention,  because  of  their  great 
size ;  then  one  notices  Uranus  and  Neptune, 
and  at  length,  quite  near  to  the  Sun-star,  Mars 
and  the  Earth.  Venus  is  very  difficult  to  make 
out.  Mercury  remains  invisible  because  of  its  too 
great  proximity  to  the  Sun.  Such  is  the  appear- 
ance of  the  planetary  system  in  the  heavens. 
20 


RESURRECTIO    PR^TERITI 

My  attention  was  fixed  exclusively  on  the 
little  terrestrial  sphere  by  the  side  of  which  I 
perceived  the  Moon.  I  soon  remarked  the 
white  snow  of  the  North  Pole,  the  yellow 
triangle  of  Africa,  and  the  outlines  of  the 
Ocean.  Whilst  my  attention  was  concentrated 
on  our  planet,  the  Sun-star  became  eclipsed 
before  my  eyes.     Then  I  was  able  to  distin-  The  Earth 

as  seen 

guish,  in  the  midst  of  an  expanse  of  azure,  a  fiom  the 
brown  cleft  or  hollow,  and  pursuing  my  in- 
vestigations I  discovered  a  town  in  the  midst 
of  this  cleft.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  recognising 
that  this  continental  hollow  was  France,  and 
that  the  town  was  Paris.  The  first  sign  by 
which  I  recognised  it  was  the  silver  ribbon  of 
the  Seine,  that  describes  so  many  graceful 
convolutions  to  the  west  of  the  great  town. 
By  the  use  of  my  new  optical  organs  I  could 
see  it  in  detail.  At  the  eastern  side  of  the 
city  I  saw  the  nave  and  towers  of  Notre  Dame 
in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross.  The  Boulevards 
wound  round  the  north.  To  the  south  I  re- 
cognised the  gardens  of  the  Luxembourg  and 
the  Observatory.  The  cupola  of  the  Pantheon 
covered  like  a  grey  hood  the  Mount  of  Ste. 
Genevieve.  To  the  west  the  grand  avenue  of  the 
Champs-^^lysees  formed  a  straight  line.  Farther 
on  I  could  distinguish  the  Bois  de  Boulogne, 
21 


LUMEN 


Paris. 


Old  Paris. 


the  environs  of  St.  Cloud,  the  Wood  of 
Meudon,  Sevres,  Ville  d'Avray,  and  Montretout. 

The  whole  scene  was  lighted  up  by  splendid 
sunshine  ;  but,  strange  to  say,  the  hills  were 
covered  with  snow  as  in  the  month  of  January, 
whilst  I  had  left  it  in  October  when  the  country 
was  perfectly  green.  I  was  fully  convinced  that 
I  was  looking  at  Paris ;  but  as  I  could  not 
understand  the  exclamations  of  my  companions, 
I  endeavoured  to  ascertain  more  details. 

My  eyes  were  fixed  with  most  interest 
upon  the  Observatory.  It  was  my  favourite 
quarter,  and  for  forty  years  I  had  scarcely  left 
it  for  more  than  a  few  months.  Judge,  there- 
fore, of  my  surprise  when  I  came  to  look 
more  closely  at  it  to  find  that  the  magnificent 
avenue  of  chestnuts  between  the  Luxembourg 
and  the  Observatory  was  nowhere  to  be  seen, 
that  in  its  place  were  the  gardens  of  convents. 
My  indignation  as  an  artist  was  aroused 
against  these  municipal  misdeeds,  but  it  was 
quickly  suspended  by  still  stranger  feelings. 
I  beheld  a  monastery  in  the  midst  of  our 
beautiful  oi'chard.  The  Boulevard  St.  Michel 
did  not  exist,  nor  did  the  Rue  de  Medici ; 
instead  I  saw  a  confused  mass  of  little  streets, 
and   I   seemed  to   recognise  the  former    Rue 

de  I'Est  and  the  Place  St.  Michel,  where  an 
22 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITl 

ancient  fountain  used  to  supply  water  to  the 
people   of  the   faubourg,   and    I    made    out  a 
number  of  narrow  lanes   which   existed  long 
ago.     The  cupolas  and  the  two  side  wings  of 
the  Ol^servatory  had  disappeared.    By  degrees, 
as  I  continued   my  observations,  I  discovered 
that   Paris  was    indeed   much   changed.     The 
Arc    de    Triomphe   de    I'Etoile,    and    all    the  >^o  Arc  de 
brilliant   avenues    that    meet    there,   had    dis- vJiWe!*^^ 
appeared.       There     was     no     Boulevard     de 
Sebastopol,  no  Station  de  I'Est,  nor  any  other 
station,  and    no    railway.      The    tower  of  St. 
Jaques  was  enclosed  in  a  court  of  old  houses, 
and  the  Column  of  Victory  was  reached  that 
way.       The   Column  of  the    Bastile   was  also 
absent,   for    I    should    easily    have    recognised 
the    figure    upon    it.       An    equestrian   statue 
filled  the  place  of  the  Vendome  Column.     The  no  Column 
Rue    Castiglione   was   an   old    green    convent.  ^^°'^^™''- 
The   Rue   de    Rivoli   had   disappeared.      The 
Louvre  was  either  unfinished  or  partly  pulled 
down.     Between  the  Court  of  Francis  I.  and 
the    Tuileries    there    were    tumble-down    old 
hovels.     There   was   no  obelisk   in   the   Place  No  obelisk 
de  la  Concorde;  but  I  saw  a  moving  crov,d, '^^  ij coJf-''*' 
though   I   was   unable    at   first   to  distinguish  ^°^^^- 
the    figures.      The    Madeleine    and    the    Rue 
Royal    were    invisible.      Behind    the    Isle    of 
23 


LUMEN 

St.  Louis  I  saw  a  small  island.  Instead  of 
the  outer  Boulevards  there  was  only  an  old 
wall,  and  the  whole  was  enclosed  by  forti- 
fications. In  short,  although  I  recognised  the 
capital  of  France  by  some  familiar  buildings, 
I  was  aware  of  a  marvellous  metamorphosis, 
which  had  completely  changed  its  aspect. 

At  first  I  fancied  that,  in  place  of  having 
just  come  from  the  Earth,  I  must  have  been 
many  years  en   route.     As  the  notion  of  time 

Timemerely  is    essentially  relative,  and    there    is    nothing 
relative.  ,  ,      , 

real  or  absolute   in   the  measure  of  duration, 

having  once  left  the  Earth,  I  had  lost  all 
standard  of  measure,  and  I  said  to  myself 
that  years,  centuries  indeed,  might  have 
passed  over  my  head  without  my  perceiving 
it,  and  that  the  time  had  seemed  short  to  me 
because  of  the  gi-eat  interest  I  had  taken  in 
my  aerial  voyage — a  commonplace  idea  which 
shows  how  merely  relative  is  our  notion  of 
time.  Not  having  any  means  of  assuring  my- 
self of  the  facts  of  the  case,  I  should  un- 
doubtedly have  concluded  that  I  was  separated 
by  many  centuries  from  the  terrestrial  life 
which  was  now  going  on  before  my  eyes  in 
Paris,  and  I  imagined  that  I  saw  the  period  of 
the  twentieth  or  twenty-first  century  until  I 

penetrated  more   deeply   into   the   details   of 
24 


RESURRECTIO   PR.ETERITI 

the  life  picture  and  examined  all  its  features. 
Eventually  I  succeeded  in  identifying  the 
aspect  of  the  tOAvn,  and  I  gradually  recognised 
the  sites  of  the  streets  and  of  the  public  build- 
ings which  I  had  known  in  my  early  youth. 
The  Hotel  de  Ville  appeared  to  be  decorated 
with  flags,  and  I  could  distinguish  the  square 
central  dome  of  the  Tuileries. 

A  little  further  examination  recalled  every-  Lumen  sees 
thing  to  me;  and  then  I  saw,  in  an  old  con-  his  past  life. 
vent  garden,  a  summer-house  which  made  me 
tremble  with  joy.  It  was  in  that  spot  that  I 
met  in  my  youth  the  woman  who  loved  me  so 
deeply,  my  Sylvia,  so  tender  and  so  devoted, 
who  gave  up  everything  to  unite  her  life  to 
mine.  I  saw  the  little  cupola  of  the  terrace 
where  we  loved  to  saunter  in  the  evenings 
and  to  study  the  constellations.  Oh,  with 
what  joy  I  greeted  those  promenades  where 
we  had  walked,  keeping  step  with  one  another, 
those  avenues  where  we  took  refuge  from  the 
curious  eyes  of  intruders!  You  can  fancy  how, 
as  I  looked  at  this  summer-house,  the  sight  of 
it  alone  was  enough  to  assure  me,  absolutely 
and  convincingly,  that  I  had  before  my  eyes 
not,  as  it  was  natural  to  suppose,  the  Paris  of 
long  after  my  death,  but  in  reality  the  Paris  of 

the  past,  old    Paris    of  the   beginning  of  this 
25 


LUMEN 

century  or  of  the  end  of  last  century.  But, 
in  spite  of  all,  you  can  easily  imagine  that  I 
could  scarcely  believe  ray  eyes.  It  seemed  so 
much  more  natural  to  think  that  Pai'is  had 
grown  old  and  had  suffered  these  transforma- 
tions since  my  departure  from  the  Earth — an 
interval  of  time  absolutely  unknown  to  me. 
It  was  so  much  easier  to  think  that  I  beheld 
the  city  of  the  future.  I  continued  my  ob- 
servations carefully,  in  order  to  ascertain  if  it 
was  really  the  old  Paris,  now  partly  demolished, 
that  I  was  looking  at,  or  if,  by  a  phenomenon 
still  more  incredible,  it  was  another  Paris,  an- 
other France,  another  world. 


II 

In  the  star        Qu^ERENS.  "What  an  extraordinary  discoverj'^ 
ape  a.        ^.^^,  ^^  analytical  mind  like  yours,  dear  Lumen  ! 
By  what  means  did  you  satisfy  yourself  that 
your  conclusions  were  correct  ? 

Lumen.  While  I  was  gradually  arriving  at 
the  conviction  of  which  I  have  told  you,  the 
old  men  around  me  on  the  mountain  continued 
their  conversation.  Suddenly  the  oldest  of 
them,  a  venerable  Nestor  whose  aspect  com- 
manded  both  admiration  and   respect,   called 

out,  in  a  loud  and  mournful  voice     "  On  your 
26 


RESURRECTIO    PR^TERITI 

knees,  my  brethren ;  let  us  pray  for  forbearance 
to  the  universal  God.  That  world,  that  nation, 
that  city  continues  to  revel  in  blood.  A  fresh 
head,  that  of  a  king  this  time,  is  about  to  fall." 
His  companions  seemed  to  understand,  for  they 
knelt  down  on  the  mountain,  and  prostrated  Tiie  French 

Terror 

their  white  faces  to  the  ground.  For  myself,  visible  in 
I  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  distinguishing  men  ^^^ 
in  the  streets  and  squares  of  Paris,  and  not 
being  able  to  verify  the  observations  of  these 
old  men,  I  remained  standing,  but  I  pursued 
my  examination  of  the  scene  before  me  care- 
fully. "Stranger,"  said  the  old  man  to  me, 
"do  you  blame  the  action  of  your  brothers 
since  you  do  not  join  your  prayers  to  theirs  ?" 
"Senator,"  I  repHed,  "  I  neither  approve  nor 
blame  what  I  do  not  comprehend.  Having 
only  just  arrived  on  this  mountain,  I  do  not 
know  the  cause  of  your  righteous  indignation." 
I  then  drew  near  the  old  man,  and  while  his 
companions  were  rising  and  entering  into  con- 
versation in  gi'oups,  I  asked  him  to  describe 
the   situation  to  me.     He  informed  me   that  old  men 

.        •    1     1  •   •  1  •  11  i°  Capella 

the  order  of  spirits  inhabiting  this  world  are  ^atch  the 
gifted  by  intuition  with  the  power  of  seeing  t]^e"Earth. 
and  apprehending  events  in  the  neighbouring 
worlds,  and  that  they  each  possess  a  sort  of 

magnetic  relation  -with  the  stars  and  systems 

27 


LUMEN 

around  them.  These  neighbour  -  worlds,  or 
stars,  are  twelve  or  fifteen  in  number.  Out- 
side that  limit  the  perceptions  become  con- 
fused. They  have  therefore  a  vague  but  dis- 
tinct knowledge  of  the  state  of  humanity  in 
the  planets  of  our  Sun,  and  of  the  relative  ele- 
vation in  the  intellectual  and  moral  order  of 
their  inhabitants.  Moreover,  when  a  great  dis- 
turbance takes  place,  either  in  the  physical  or 
the  moral  realm,  they  feel  a  sort  of  inner  agita- 
tion, like  that  of  a  musical  chord  which  vibrates 
in  unison  with  another  chord  at  a  distance. 

For  a  year  (a  year  of  this  world  is  equal  to 
ten  of  our  years)  they  had  felt  themselves 
drawn  by  special  attraction  towards  the  terres- 
trial planet,  and  had  observed  with  unusual 
interest  and  anxiety  the  march  of  events  in 
that  world.  They  had  beheld  the  end  of  a 
reign  and  the  dawn  of  glorious  liberty,  the 
conquest  of  the  rights  of  man  and  the  asser- 
tion of  the  great  principles  of  human  dignity. 
Then  they  had  seen  the  cause  sacred  to  liberty 
placed  in  peril  by  those  who  should  have  been 
the  first  to  defend  it,  and  brute  force  substi- 
tuted for  reason  and  justice. 

I  saw  that  he  was  describing  the  great  Revo- 
lution of  1789,  and  the  fall  of  the  old  political 
world  before  the  new  regime.  Very  mournfully 
28 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

they  had  followed  the  events  of  the  Reign  of 
Terror  and  the  tyranny  of  that  bloody  time. 
They  trembled  for  the  future  of  the  Earth, 
and  felt  doubtful  of  the  progress  of  a  humanity 
which,  when  emancipated,  so  soon  lost  the 
treasure  it  had  just  acquired.  I  took  care  not 
to  let  the  senator  know  that  I  had  just  arrived 
from  the  Earth  myself,  and  that  I  had  lived 
there  seventy-two  years.  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  was  aware  of  this,  but  I  was  so 
much  sui-prised  by  this  vision  before  me  that 
it  completely  absorbed  my  mind  and  I  did 
not  think  of  myself. 

At  last  my  sight  was  fully  developed,  and  I 
perceived  the  spectacle  in  all  its  details.  I 
could  distinguish,  in  the  midst  of  the   Place  Lumen  wit- 

11*^  1  rr*  11  111  ncsses  tn6 

de   la  Concorde,  a  scaitold,  surrounded   by   a  gcenesofthe 
formidable  array  of  war,  drums,  cannon,  and  ![^®"';\. 

•'  ^  ^  J  Revolution. 

a  motley  crowd  armed  with  pikes.  A  cart, 
led  by  a  man  in  red,  bore  the  remains  of 
Louis  XVI.  in  the  direction  of  the  Faubourg 
St.  Honore.  An  intoxicated  mob  lifted  their 
fists  to  heaven.  Some  horsemen,  sabre  in 
hand,  mournfully  followed.  Towards  the 
Champs-Elysees  there  were  ditches  into  which 
the  curious  stumbled.  But  the  agitation  was 
concentrated  in  this  region.  It  did  not  ex- 
tend into  the  town,  which  appeared  dead  and 
29 


LUMEN 

deserted ;  the  terror  had  thrown  it  into  a  state 
of  lethargy. 

I  was  not  present  during  the  events  of  ]79<^; 
since  that  was  the  year  of  ray  birth,  and  I  felt 
an  inexpressible  interest  in  being  thus  a  witness 
of  these  scenes  of  which  I  had  read  in  history, 
I  have  often  discussed  and  debated  the  vote  of 
the  Convention,  but  I  confess  to  you  I  see  no 
excuse  of  state  in  the  execution  of  such  men 
as  Lavoisier,  the  creator  of  chemistry,  Bailly, 
the  historian  of  astronomy,  Andre  Chenier,  the 
sweet  poet,  or  the  condemnation  of  Condorcet, 
the  philosopher.  These  have  I'oused  my  in- 
dignation much  more  than  the  punishment  of 
Louis  XVI.  I  was  intensely  interested  at  being 
thus  a  witness  of  this  vanished  epoch.  But  you 
may  imagine  how  much  greater  was  my  surprise, 
and  how  much  more  I  was  astonished,  that  I  be- 
held in  1864  events  actually  present  before  me  which 
had  taken  place  at  the  end  of  the  last  century. 

QujERENS.  In  truth,  it  seems  to  me  that 
this  feeling  of  its  impossibility  ought  to  have 
awakened  doubt  in  you.  Visions  are  essen- 
tially illusory.  We  cannot  admit  their  reality 
even  though  we  see  them. 

Lumen.   Yes,  my  friend,  it  was  as  you  say, 

impossible !      Now    can    you    understand    my 

experience  in  seeing  with  my  own  eyes  this 
SO 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

paradox  realised  ?  The  common  saying  is, 
"One  cannot  believe  one's  own  eyes."  That 
was  just  my  position.  It  was  impossible  to  deny 
what  I  saw,  and  equally  impossible  to  admit  it. 

QUiERENS.  But  was  it  not  a  conception  of 
your  own  mind,  a  creation  of  your  imagination, 
or  perhaps  a  reminiscence  of  your  memory  ? 
Are  you  sure  it  was  a  reality,  not  a  strange 
reflection  from  your  memory  ? 

Lumen.  That  was  my  first  idea ;  but  it  was 
so  obvious  that  I  saw  before  me  the  Paris  of 
'93,  and  the  events  of  January  21,  that  I 
could  no  longer  be  in  any  doubt  about  it. 
Besides,  this  explanation  was  anticipated  by 
the  fact  that  the  old  men  of  the  mountain  had  Not  a 
preceded  me  in  observing  these  phenomena, 
and  they  had  seen,  and  analysed,  and  con- 
versed on  them  as  actual  facts  without  know- 
ing anything  of  the  history  of  our  world,  and 
were  quite  unaware  of  my  knowledge  of  that 
history.  Further,  we  had  before  our  eyes  a 
present  fact,  not  a  past  event. 

QujERENS.  But,   on   the   other  hand,   if  the 

past  can  be  thus  merged  into  the  pi'esent,  if 

reality  and  vision  can  be  allied  in  this  way,  if 

persons  long    since    dead   can    be   seen   again 

acting  on  the  scene   of  life,  if  new  structures 

and  metamorphoses   in  a  city  like   Paris   can 
31 


LUMEN 

disappear  and  give  place  to  the  aspect  of  the 
city  as  it  was  formerly — in  short,  if  the  present 
can  vanish  and  the  past  be  re-created^  what 
certainty  can  we  have  of  anything  ?  What 
becomes  of  the  science  of  observation  ?  What 
becomes  of  deductions  and  theories  ?  On  what 
solid  foundation  can  we  base  our  knowledge  ? 
If  these  things  are  true,  ought  we  not  hence- 
forth to  doubt  everything^  or  else  to  believe 
everything  ? 

Lumen.  Yes,  ray  friend,  these  considerations 
and  many  others  occupied  my  mind  and  tor- 
mented me,   but   they  did  not  do  away  with 

A  reality,  the  reality  which  I  was  observing.  When  I 
had  assured  myself  that  we  had  present  before 
our  eyes  the  events  of  the  year  1793,  it  imme- 
diately occurred  to  me  that  science,  instead  of 
conflicting  with  these  facts,  ought  to  furnish  an 
explanation  of  them,  for  two  truths  can  never 
be  opposed  to  one  another.  I  investigated  the 
physical  laws,  and  I  discovered  the  solution  of 
the  mystery. 

QUiERENs.  What !  the  facts  were  real  ? 
Lumen.  They  were  not  only  real,  but  com- 
prehensible and  capable  of  demonstration.   You 
shall  have  an  astronomical  explanation  of  them. 

tioii  of  the    i„  tlie  first  place,  I  examined  the  position  of 

apparent 

paradox.       the  Earth  in  the  constellation  of  the  Altar  as 

32 


RESURRECTIO   PR^ETERITI 

I  have  told  you ;  I  took  the  bearings  of  my 
position  relatively  to  the  Polar  star  and  to  the 
Zodiac.  I  remarked  that  the  constellations 
were  not  very  different  from  those  we  see 
from  the  Earth,  and  that  except  in  the  case 
of  a  few  j)articiilar  stars,  their  positions  were 
evidently  the  same.  Orion  still  reigned  in 
the  ultra-equatorial  region,  the  Great  Bear 
pursuing  his  circular  course  still  pointing  to 
the  north.  In  comparing  the  apparent  move- 
ments, and  co-ordinating  them  scientifically, 
I  calculated  that  the  point  where  I  saw  the 
group  of  the  Sun,  the  Earth,  and  the  planets, 
marked  the  17th  hour  of  right  ascension,  that 
is  to  say,  about  the  256th  degree,  or  nearly  so. 
I  had  no  instrument  to  take  exact  measure- 
ments. I  observed,  in  the  second  place,  that  it  Lumen 
was  on  the  44th  degree  from  the  South  Pole.  thrSe" 

I  made  these  observations  to  ascertain  the  star  ^^ere  h 

was  in 
on  which  I  then  was,  and  I  was  led  to  con-  space 

elude  that  I  was  on  a  star  situated  on  the 
70th  degi-ee  of  right  ascension,  and  the  46th 
degree  of  north  declination.  On  the  other  hand, 
I  knew  from  the  words  of  the  old  man  that 
the  star  on  which  we  were  was  not  far  from 
our  Sun,  since  he  considered  it  to  be  one  of 
the  neighbouring  stars.  From  these  data  I  had 
no  difficulty  in  recalling  the  star  that  stands 
33  c 


LUMEN 

in  the  position  I  had  determined.  One  only 
answered  to  it^  that  of  the  first  magnitude. 
Alpha  in  the  constellation  of  Auriga,  named 
also  Capella,  or  the  Goat. 

Tliere  was  no  doubt  about  this.  Thus  I  was 
certain  that  I  was  on  one  of  the  planetary  worlds 
of  the  sun  Capella.  From  thence  our  Sun  looks 
like  a  simple  star,  and  appeai-s  in  perspective 
to  be  in  the  constellation  of  the  Altar,  just 
opposite  that  of  Auriga,  as  seen  from  the  Earth. 

Then   I  tried   to  remember  what  was  the 

parallax  of  this  star.     I  recalled  that  a  friend 

of  mine,  a  Russian    astronomer,  had   made  a 

calculation,  which  had  been  confirmed,  of  this 

parallax.     It  was  proved  to  be  0,"04'6. — When 

I  had  thus  solved  the  mystery  my  heart  beat 

with   joy.       Every  geometrician   knows    that 

parallax  indicates  mathematically  the  distance 

in   units  of  the    magnitude   employed    in  the 

calculation.     I   sought  then  to   recall  exactly 

the  distance  Avhich  separated   this  star   from 

the  Earth,  in  order  to  prove  the  accuracy  of 

the    calculation.      I    only  needed    to  find  out 

what  number  corresponded  to  0,"046.^ 

^  Every  one  knows  that  the  farther  an  object  is,  the 
smaller  it  appears.  An  object  which  is  seen  under  an 
angle  of  one  second,  is  at  a  distance  of  20(;,265  times 
its  own  diameter,  whatever  it  may  be  ;  because  as  there 
are  1,296,000  seconds  in  the  circumference,  the  ratio 
between  the  circumference  and  its  diameter  being 
34 


RESURRECTIO   PR.ETERITI 

N 

Expressed  in  millions  of  leagues,  this  num- 
ber is  170,392,000,  and  so,  from  the  star 
on  which  I  was,  the  Earth  was  distant  170 
billions  392  thousand  millions  of  leagues.  The 
principle  was  thus  established,  and  the  pro- 
blem was  three  parts  solved.  Now,  here  is  the 
main  point,  to  which  I  call  your  special  atten- 
tion, for  you  will  find  in  it  an  explanation  The  velocity 
of  the  most  marvellous  realities.  Light,  you  °  ^ 
know,  does  not  cross  instantaneously  from  one 
place  to  another,  but  in  successive  waves.  If 
you  throw  a  stone  into  a  pool  of  tranquil  water, 
a  series  of  undulations  form  around  the  point 
where  the  stone  fell.  In  the  same  way,  sound 
undulates  in  the  air  when  passing  from  one 
point  to  another,  and  thus,  also,  light  travels 
in  space — it  is  transmitted  in  successive  un- 
dulations. The  light  of  a  star  takes  a  certain 
time  to  reach  the  Earth,  and  this  time  naturally 
depends  on  the  distance  which  separates  the 
star  from  the  Earth. 

3,14159  X  2,  it  follows  that  this  object  is  at  a  distance 
equal  to  206,265  times  its  own  diameter.  As  Capella 
sees  the  semi-diameter  of  the  terrestrial  orbit  only 
under  an  angle  22  times  smaller,  its  distance  is  22 
times  greater.  Capella  is  therefore  at  a  distance  of 
4,484,000  times  the  radius  of  the  terrestrial  orbit. 
Future  micrometrical  measurements  may  modify  these 
results  concerning  the  parallax  of  this  star,  but  they 
cannot  change  the  principle  upon  which  the  concep- 
tion of  this  work  is  grounded. 
35 


How  the 
lieavenly 
bodies  are 
sesD. 


LUMEN 

Sound  travels  340  metres  in  a  second.  A 
cannon  shot  is  heard  immediately  by  those  who 
fire  itj  a  second  later  by  persons  who  are  at  a 
distance  of  340  metres,  in  three  seconds  by 
those  who  are  a  kilometre  off,  twelve  seconds 
after  the  shot  at  four  kilometres.  It  takes  two 
minutes  to  reach  those  who  are  ten  times  far- 
ther off,  and  those  who  live  at  a  distance  of  a 
hundred  kilometres  hear  this  human  thunder 
in  five  minutes.  Light  travels  with  much 
greater  swiftness,  but  it  is  not  transmitted  in- 
stantaneously, as  the  ancients  supposed.  It 
travels  at  the  rate  of  300,000  kilometres  per 
second,  and  if  it  could  revolve^  might  encircle 
the  Earth  eight  times  in  a  second.  Light 
occupies  one  second  and  a  quarter  to  come 
from  the  Moon  to  the  Earth,  eight  minutes 
and  thirteen  seconds  to  come  from  the  Sun, 
forty-two  minutes  to  come  from  Jupiter,  two 
hours  to  come  from  Uranus,  and  four  hours 
to  come  from  Nejitune.  Therefore,  we  see 
the  heavenly  bodies  not  as  they  are  at  the 
moment  we  observe  them,  but  as  they  were 
when  the  luminous  ray  which  reaches  us  left 
them.  If  a  volcano  were  to  burst  forth  in 
eruption  on  one  of  the  worlds  I  have  named, 
we  should  not  see  the  fiames  in  the  Moon  till  a 

second  and  a  quarter  had  elapsed,  if  in  Jupiter 
36 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITl 

not  till  forty-two  minutes,  in  Uranus  two  hours 
after,  and  we  should  not  see  it  in  Neptune  till 
four  hours  after  the  eruption.  The  distances 
are  incomparably  more  vast  outside  our  plane- 
tary system,  and  the  light  is  still  longer  in 
reaching  us.  Thus,  a  luminous  ray  coming 
from  the  star  nearest  to  us,  Alpha,  in  Cen- 
taurus,  takes  four   years   in  coming.      A  ray  Time  occn- 

^  r-,.   .        .  1      ,  •  •  xi      pied  in  the 

from  Sinus  is  nearly  ten  years  in  crossing  the  ^^.^j^^_ 
abyss  which  separates  us  from  that  sun.  The  j^^^^^j""  ""^ 
star  Capella,  being  the  distance  above  men- 
tioned from  the  Earth,  it  is  easy  to  calculate, 
at  the  rate  of  300,000  kilometres  the  second, 
what  time  is  needed  to  cross  this  distance. 
The  calculation  amounts  to  seventy-one  years, 
eight  months,  and  twenty-four  days.  The 
luminous  ray,  therefore,  which  came  from  Ca- 
pella to  the  Earth,  traversed  space  without 
interruption  seventy-one  years,  eight  months, 
and  twenty-four  days  before  it  was  visible  on 
the  Earth.  In  like  manner,  the  ray  of  light 
which  leaves  the  Earth  can  only  arrive  at 
Capella  in  the  same  period  of  time. 

QUiERENS.  If  the  luminous  ray  which  comes 
from  that  star  takes  nearly  seventy-two  years 
to  reach  us,  it  follows  that  we  see  the  star  as 
it  was  nearly  seventy-two  years  ago  ? 

Lumen.     You    are    quite     right,    and     tills 
37 


courier. 


LUMEN 

is  the  fact  that  I  want  you  take  note  of 
specially. 

A  belated  Qu^ERENS.   In  Other  words,  the  ray  of  light 

is  like  a  courier  who  brings  despatches  from 
a  distant  country,  and  having  been  nearly 
seventy-two  years  on  the  way,  his  news  is  of 
events  that  occurred  at  the  time  of  his  de- 
parture seventy-two  years  ago. 

Lumen.  You  have  divined  the  mystery.  Your 
illustration  shows  me  that  you  have  lifted  the 
veil  which  shrouded  it.  In  order  to  be  still 
more  exact,  the  light  represents  a  courier  who 
brings,  not  written  news,  but  photographs,  or, 
strictly  speaking,  the  real  aspect  of  the  country 
from  whence  he  came.  We  see  this  living 
picture  such  as  it  appeared,  in  all  its  aspects,  at 
the  moment  when  the  luminous  rays  shot  forth 
from  the  distant  orb.  Nothing  is  more  simple, 
nothing  more  indubitable.  When  we  examine 
the  surface  of  a  star  with  a  telescope  we  see, 
not  the  actual  surface  as  it  was  at  the  time  of 
our  observation,  but  such  as  it  was  when  the 
light  was  emitted  from  that  surface. 

Qu^REasrs.  This  being  so,  if  a  star,  the  light 
of  which  takes  ten  years  to  reach  us,  were  to  be 
annihilated  to-day,  we  should  continue  to  see  it 
for  ten  years,  since  its  last  ray  would  not  reach 

us  before  ten  years  had  elapsed. 

38 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITl 

Lumen.  It  is  precisely  so.  In  shorty  the  rays 
of  light  that  proceed  from  the  stars  do  not  reach 
us  instantaneously,  but  occupy  a  certain  time  in 
crossing  the  distance  which  separates  us  from 
them,  and  show  us  those  stars  not  as  they  are 
now,  but  such  as  they  were  at  the  moment  in 
which  those  rays  set  out  to  transmit  the  aspect 
of  the  stars  to  us.  Thus  we  behold  a  wondrous 
transformation  of  the  past  into  the  present.  In 
the  star  we  observe  we  see  the  past,  which  has  We  see  the 
already  disappeared,  while  to  the  observer  it  is  tj^g  present, 
the  present,  the  actual.  Strictly  speaking,  the  f^g^s^j^* 
past  of  the  star  is  positively  the  present  of  the 
observer.  As  the  aspect  of  the  worlds  change 
from  year  to  year,  almost  from  day  to  day,  one 
can  imagine  these  aspects  emerging  into  space 
and  advancing  into  the  infinite,  and  thus  reveal- 
ing their  phases  in  the  sight  of  far-distant  spec- 
tators. Each  aspect  or  appearance  is  followed 
by  another,  and  so  on  in  endless  sequence.  Thus 
a  series  of  undulations  bears  from  afar  the  past 
histoiy  of  the  worlds  which  the  observer  sees 
in  its  various  phases  as  they  successively  reach 
him.  The  events  which  we  see  in  the  stars  at 
present  are  already  past,  and  that  which  is 
actually  happening  there  we  cannot  as  yet  see. 
Realise  to  yourself,  my  friend,  this  presentation 
of  an  actual  fact,  for  it  is  of  importance  to  you 
S9 


LUMEN 

to  comprehend  the  precession  of  the  waves  of 

light  and  to  understand  the  essential  nature  of 

this  undoubted  truth.  The  appearance  of  things, 

borne  to  us  by  liglit,  shows  us  those  things  not 

as  they  are  at  present,  but  as  they  were  in  that 

period  of  the  past  which  preceded  the  interval 

of  time  needed  for  the  light  to  traverse  the 

distance  which  separates  us  from  those  events. 

The  planet         We  do  not  see  any  of  the  stars  such  as  they 
Earth  as  -^  '' 

Been  from     are,  but  such  as  they  were  when  the  luminous 

rays  that  reach  us  left  them. 

It  is  not  the  actual  condition  of  the  heavens  thai 

is  visible,  but  their  past  history.     Moreover,  there 

are  distant  stars  which  have  been  extinct  for 

ten  thousand  years,  but  which  we  can  see  still, 

because  the  rays  of  light  from  them  had  set  out 

before  they  were  extinguished.     Some  of  the 

double    stars,  the    nature    and    movements    of 

which  we  seek  with  care  and  toil,  ceased  to 

exist  long  before  astronomers  began  to  make 

obsei'vations.     If  the  visible  heavens  were  to 

be  annihilated  to-day  w-e  should  still  see  stars 

to-morrow,  even  next  year,  and  for  a  hundred 

years,  a  thousand  years,  and  even  for  fifty  and 

a  hundi'ed  thousand  years,  or  more,  with  the 

exception   only   of   the   nearest    stars,   which 

would     disappear     successively    as    the    time 

needed    for    their   luminous    rays    to  reach  us 
40 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

expired.     Alpha  of  Centaur  would  go  out  first, 
in  four  years,  Sirius  in  ten  years,  and  so  on. 

Now,  my  friend,  you  can  easily  apply  a  scien- 
tific theoiy  in  explanation  of  these  strange 
facts  of  which  I  was  witness.  If  from  the 
Earth  one  sees  the  star  Capella,  not  as  it  is 
at  the  moment  of  observation,  but  as  it  was 
seventy-two  years  before,  in  the  same  way 
from  Capella  one  would  see  the  Earth  as  it  was 
seventy-two  years  earlier,  for  light  takes  the 
same  time  to  traverse  the  distance  either  way. 

Qu^RENS.  Master,  I  have  followed  your  ex- 
planation attentively.  But,  I  ask  you,  does 
the  Earth  shine  like  a  star  ?  Surely  she  is  not 
luminous  } 

Lumen.    She  reflects  in  space  the  light  of  The  other 

the   Sun ;    the  greater  the  distance  the  more  from  alar. 

our   planet   resembles  a  star.      All   the   light 

that  radiates  from   the   Sun  on  its  surface  is 

condensed  into  a   disc   that   becomes    smaller 

and  smaller.     Seen  from  the  Moon  our  Earth 

appears   fourteen   times    more    luminous    than 

the  full  Moon,  because  she  is  fourteen  times 

larger  than  the  Moon.     Seen  from  the  planet 

Venus  the  Earth  appears  as  bright  as  Jupiter 

appears   to   us.     From    the    planet    Mars    the 

Earth  is   the  morning  and   the   evening  star, 

presenting  phases  like  those  of  Venus  to  us. 
4>1 


LUMEN 

ThuSj  although  our  Earth  is  not  luminous  her- 
self, she  shines  afar  like  the  Moon  and  the 
planets,  by  the  light  that  she  receives  from 
the  Sun,  and  reflects  into  space. 

Now  the  events  taking  place  on  Neptune, 
if  seen  from  the  Earth,  would  have  a  delay  of 
four  hours  ;  in  like  manner  the  view  of  life  on 
the  Earth  could  only  reach  Neptune  in  the 
same  time;  nearly  seventy-two  yeai's,  there- 
fore, separate  Capella  and  the  Earth. 

QuiERENS.  Although  these  views  are  new 
and  strange  to  me,  I  now  understand  perfectly 
how,  since  the  light  was  nearly  seventy-two 
years  in  traversing  the  abyss  which  separates 
the  Earth  from  Capella,  you  beheld  not  the 
Earth  as  it  was  in  October  1864,  the  date  of 
your  death,  but  as  it  appeared  in  Januai*y 
1793.  And  I  comprehend  quite  as  clearly 
that  what  you  saw  was  neither  a  phenomenon 
of  memory,  nor  a  supernatural  experience,  but 
an  actual,  positive,  and  incontestable  fact,  and 
that  in  very  truth  what  had  long  passed  away 
on  the  Earth  was  only  then  present  to  an 
observer  at  that  distance.  But  permit  me  to 
ask  you  an  incidental  question.  In  coming 
from  the  Earth  to  Capella  did  you  cross  that 
distance  even  more  quickly  than  light .'' 

Lumen.   Have  I  not  already  anticipated  your 

42 


RESURRECTIO   PRiETERITI 

question    in    telling   you    that   I    crossed    this  Thought 
distance   with  the   swiftness   of  thought.     On  ijgjjt 
the  very  day  of  my  death   I  found  myself  on 
this  star^  which  I  had  admired  and  loved  so 
much  all  my  life  on  the  terrestrial  globe. 

QujEREns.  Ah,  Master,  although  everything 
is  thus  explained,  your  vision  is  not  the  less 
wonderful.  Truly  it  is  an  astonishing  pheno- 
menon that  of  seeing  thus  at  once  the  past  in 
the  present  in  this  extraordinary  manner.  Not 
less  marvellous  is  the  thought  of  seeing  the 
stars,  not  such  as  they  are  when  one  makes  the 
observation,  nor  as  they  have  been  simulta- 
neously, but  as  they  have  been  at  different 
epochs  according  to  their  distances,  and  the 
time  that  the  light  of  each  has  taken  in 
coming  to  the  Earth  ! 

Lumen.  I  venture  to  say  that  the  natural  Light, 
astonishment  that  you  feel  in  contemplating 
this  truth  is  only  the  prelude  to  the  things 
which  I  have  now  to  unfold  to  you.  Un- 
doubtedly, it  appears  at  first  sight  very  extra- 
ordinary, that  by  removing  to  a  distance  in 
space,  one  can  become  a  witness  of  long  past 
events,  and  remount  as  it  were  the  stream  of 
time.  But  this  is  not  more  strange  than  what 
I  have  yet  to  communicate  to  you,  and  which 

will  appear  to  you  still  more  imaginary  if  you 
43 


LUMEN 

can  listen   a  little  longer  to  the  narrative   of 
that  (lay  which  followed  my  death. 

Qu^RENs.  Go  on,  I  beg  of  you,  I  am  eager 
to  hear  you. 


Ill 

Lumen  sees       LuMEN.   On  turning  away  from  the  sangui- 

his  own  life  „     ,  i     i      t-.  »       i      • 

on  Earth,  nary  scenes  or  trie  Place  de  la  Revolution,  my 
eyes  were  attracted  towards  a  habitation  of 
somewhat  an  antique  style,  situated  in  fi'ont 
of  Notre  Dame,  and  occupying  the  place  of  the 
present  square  in  front  of  the  cathedral.  I 
saw  a  group  of  five  persons  before  the  entrance 
of  the  cathedral,  who  were  reclining  on  wooden 
benches  in  the  sunshine,  with  their  heads  un- 
covered. When  they  rose  and  crossed  the 
square,  I  perceived  that  one  was  my  father, 
younger  than  I  could  remember  him,  another 
my  mother,  still  younger,  and  a  third  a  cousin 
of  mine  who  died  the  same  year  as  my  father, 
now  nearly  forty  years  ago.  I  found  it  difficult 
at  first  to  recognise  these  persons,  for  instead 
of  facing  them,  I  saw  them  only  from  on  high 
above  their  heads.  I  was  not  a  little  surprised 
at  this  unlooked-for  meeting,  but  then  I  re- 
membered that  I  had  heard  that  my  parents 

lived  in  the    Place    Notre    Dame    before    my 
44 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

birth.  I  cannot  tell  you  liow  profoundly  I 
was  affected  by  this  sight ;  my  perception 
seemed  to  fail  me,  and  a  cloud  appeared  to 
obscure  Paris  from  my  view.  I  felt  as  though 
I  had  been  carried  off  by  a  whirlwind  ;  for,  as 
you  are  aware,  I  had  lost  all  sense  of  time. 
When  I  began  again  to  see  objects  distinctly, 
I  noticed  a  troop  of  children  running  across 
the  Place  de  Pantheon.  They  looked  like 
school  children  coming  out  of  class ;  for  they 
had  their  portfolios  and  books  in  their  hands, 
and  were  apparently  going  to  their  homes, 
gambolling  and  gesticulating.  Two  of  them 
attracted  me  especially,  for  I  saw  they  were 
quan-elling  and  just  preparing  to  fight,  and 
another  little  fellow  was  advancing  to  separate 
them  when  he  received  a  blow  on  the  shoulder 
and  was  thrown  down.  In  an  instant  a  woman 
ran  to  help  him ;  this  was  my  own  mother. 
Woi-ds  fail  me  to  tell  my  amazement  when  I 
pei'ceived  that  the  child  to  whose  rescue  my 
mother  came  was  viy  own  self.  Never  in  my 
seventy-two  years  of  earthly  life,  with  all  the 
unlooked-for  changes  and  strange  events  v.'ith 
which  it  was  crowded,  never  in  all  its  surprises 
and  chances  have  I  felt  such  emotion  as  this 
sight  caused  me ;  I  was  com{)letely  overcome 
when  in  this  child  I  recognised — myself! 
4>5 


LUMEN 

Qu^RENS.   You  saw  yourself  ? 

Lumen.  Yes^  myself,  with  the  blond  curls 
of  six  years  of  age,  with  my  little  collar  em- 
broidered by  my  mother's  hands,  ray  little 
blouse  of  light  blue  colour,  and  the  cuffs  al- 
ways rumpled.  There  I  was,  the  very  same  as 
you  have  seen  in  the  half- effaced  miniature  that 
stood  on  my  mantelpiece.  My  mother  came 
over  to  me,  and  sharply  reproving  the  other 
boys,  took  me  up  in  her  arms,  and  then  led  me 
by  the  hand  into  the  house,  which  was  close  to 
the  Rue  d'Ulm.  There  I  saw  that,  after  pass- 
ing through  the  house,  we  reappeared  in  the 
garden  in  the  midst  of  a  numerous  company. 

Qu^RENs.  Master,  pai'don  me  a  criticism. 
I  confess  to  you  that  it  appears  to  me  impos- 
sible that  you  could  see  yourself;  you  could 
not  be  two  persons;  and  since  you  were 
seventy-two  years  old,  your  infancy  was  passed, 
and  had  totally  disappeared.  You  could  not 
see  a  thing  that  no  longer  existed.  I  cannot 
comprehend  how  when  an  old  man  you  could 
see  yourself  as  an  infant. 

Lumen.  Why  cannot  you  admit  this  point 
on  the  same  grounds  as  the  preceding  ones  ? 

QUiERENs.  Because  you  cannot  see  yourself 

double,  an  infant  and  an  old  man,  at  the  same 

time. 

46 


RESURRECTIO    PR.l^TERITI 

Lumen.   Look   at  the   matter  more   closely, 

my  friend.     You  admit  the  general  fact,  but 

you  do  not  sufficiently  observe,  that  this  last 

particular  is  logically  inferred  from  that  fact.  A  logical 

inference. 
You  admit  that  the  view  I  had  of  the  Earth 

was  seventy-two  years  in  coming  to   me,   do 

you  not .''  that  events  reached  me  only  at  that 

interval  of  time  after  they  had  taken  place .'' 

in  short,  that  I  saw  the  world  as  it  was  at  that 

epoch  ?     You  admit,  likewise,  that  as   I   saw 

the  streets  of  that  time  I  saw  also  the  children 

running  in  those  streets  }     You  admit  all  this  ? 

QujErens.  Yes,  decidedly. 

Lumen.  Well,  then,  since  I  saw  this  troop  of 
children,  and  myself  amongst  them,  why  do  you 
say  I  could  not  see  myself  as  well  as  the  others  ? 

QuiERENs.  But  you  were  no  longer  there 
amongst  them  ! 

Lumen.  Again,  I  repeat,  this  whole  troop  of 
children  has  ceased  to  exist.  But  I  saw  them 
such  as  they  were  at  the  moment  the  ray  of 
light  left  the  Earth,  which  only  reached  me  at 
the  present  time.  And  as  I  could  distinguish 
the  fifteen  to  eighteen  children  in  the  group, 
there  was  no  reason  why  I  should  disappear 
from  amongst  them  because  I  myself  was  the 
distant  spectator.  Since  any  other  observer 
could  see  me  in  company  with  my  comrades, 
47 


LUMEN 

why  should  I  form  an  exception  ?  I  saw  them 
all,  and  I  saw  myself  amongst  them. 

QuiERENs.  I  had  not  fully  taken  in  the  idea. 
It  is  evident,  in  short,  that  seeing  a  troop  of 
children,  of  whom  you  were  one,  you  could  not 
fail  to  see  yourself  as  well  as  you  saw  the  others. 

Lumen.  Now  you  can  understand  into  what 
a  state  of  surprise  I  was  thrown.  This  child 
was  really  myself,  flesh  and  bones,  as  the  vulgar 
expression  has  it — myself,  at  the  age  of  six 
years.  I  saw  myself  as  well  as  the  company 
in  the  garden  who  were  playing  with  me  saw 
me.  It  was  no  mirage,  no  vision,  no  spectre, 
no  reminiscence,  no  image ;  it  was  reality, 
positively  myself,  my  thought  and  my  body. 
I  was  there  before  my  eyes.  If  my  other 
senses  had  the  perfection  of  my  sight,  it  seemed 
as  though  I  should  have  been  able  to  touch 
and  hear  myself.  I  jumped  about  the  garden 
and  ran  round  the  pond,  which  had  a  balus- 
trade around  it.  Some  time  after  my  grand- 
father took  me  on  his  knees  and  made  me  read 
in  a  big  book.  It  is  not  possible  for  me  to 
describe  my  astonishment.  I  must  leave  you  to 
imagine  what  it  was  to  me,  and  to  realise  the 
fact,  now  that  you  understand  upon  what  it 
was  based.     Suffice  it  to  say,  that  I  had  never 

received  such  a  surprise  in  my  life.     One  re- 

48 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 
flection  especially  puzzled  me.     I  said  to  my-  Lumen  sees 

himself  a 

self,  this  child  is  really  me,  he  is  alive,  he  will  child, 
grow  up,  and  he  ought  to  live  sixty-six  years 
longer.  It  is  undoubtedly  myself.  And  on 
the  other  hand,  here  I  am,  having  lived  seventy- 
two  years  of  the  terrestrial  life.  I  who  now 
think  and  see  these  things,  I  am  still  myself, 
and  this  child  is  me  also.  J?«  /  Ihen  two  beings, 
one  there  below,  on  the  Earth,  and  the  other 
here  in  space — two  complete  persons  and  yet 
quite  distinct }  An  observer,  placed  where 
I  am,  could  see  this  child  in  the  garden,  as  I 
see  him,  and  at  the  same  time  see  me  here. 
I  must  be  two — it  is  incontestable.  My  soul  is 
in  this  child  ;  it  is  no  less  here.  It  is  the  same 
soul,  my  own  soul.  How  can  it  animate  two 
beings  ?  What  a  strange  reality  !  For  I  can- 
not say  that  I  delude  myself,  or  that  what  I 
see  is  an  optical  illusion,  for  both  according  to 
nature,  and  by  the  laws  of  science,  I  see  at 
once  a  child  and  an  old  man — the  one  there 
beyond,  the  other  here  where  I  am,  the  former 
joyous  and  free-hearted,  the  other  pensive  and 
agitated. 

QUiERENS.   In  truth  it  is  strange  ! 

Lumen.    Yes,  but  no   less  true.     You  may 

search  through  all  creation  and  not  find  such  a 

paradox.     Well,  to  proceed  with  my  history,  I 
49  D 


LUMEN 

Lumen  sees  saw  myself  grow  up  in  this  vast  city  of  Paris,  I 

himself  a  in 

young  man.  saw  myself  enter  college  in  1804,  and  perform 
my  first  military  exercises  when  the  First 
Consul  was  crowned  Emperor.  One  day  as  I 
passed  by  the  Carrousel  I  got  a  glimpse  of  the 
domineering  and  thoughtful  face  of  Napoleon. 
I  could  not  remember  having  seen  him  in  my 
life,  and  it  was  interesting  to  see  him  thus  pass 
across  my  field  of  view.  In  1810  I  saw  myself 
promoted  to  the  Polytechnic  School,  and  there 
I  was  talking  of  the  course  of  studies  with 
Fran9ois  Arago,  the  best  of  comrades.  He 
already  belonged  to  the  institute,  and  had 
replaced  Monge  at  the  school,  because  the 
Emperor  had  complained  of  the  Jesuitism  of 
Binet.  I  saw  myself,  in  like  manner,  all 
through  the  brilliant  years  of  my  youth,  full  of 
projects  of  travels  for  scientific  exploration,  in 
company  with  Arago  and  Humboldt,  travels 
which  only  the  latter  decided  to  undertake. 
Lumen  Later  on  I  saw  myself  during  the  Hundred 
the  events  Days,  crossing  quickly  the  little  wood  of  the 
died  Days  ^Id  Luxembourg,  and  then  the  Rue  de  I'Est 
and  the  avenue  of  the  garden  of  the  Rue 
St.  Jaques,  and  hastening  to  meet  my 
beloved  under  the  lilac-trees.  Sweet  meet- 
ings all  to  ourselves,  the  confidences  of  our 

hearts,  the  silences  of  our  souls,  the  transports 
50 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

of  our  evening  conversations,  were  all  pi'e- 
sented  to  my  astonished  sight,  no  longer 
veiled  by  distance,  but  actually  before  my 
eyes.  I  was  present  again  at  the  combat  with 
the  Allies  on  the  Hill  of  Montmartre,  and  saw 
their  descent  into  the  capital,  and  the  fall  of 
the  statue  in  the  Place  Vendome,  when  it  was 
drawn  through  the  streets  with  cries  of  joy.  I 
saw  the  camp  of  the  English  and  the  Prussians 
in  the  Charaps-Elysees,  the  destruction  of  the 
Louvre,  the  journey  to  Ghent,  the  entrance  of 
Louis  XVIII. 

The  flag  of  the  island  of  Elba  floated  before 
my  eyes,  and  Jater  on  I  sought  out  the  far 
Atlantic  isle  where  the  eagle,  v/ith  his  wings 
broken,  was  chained.  The  rotation  of  the 
Earth  soon  brought  before  my  eyes  the  Em-  Napoleon  at 
peror  in  St.  Helena  sadly  musing  at  the  foot  '  ^  ^ 
of  a  sycamore-tree. 

Thus  the  events  of  the  years  as  they  passed 
were   revealed    to    me    in  following   my  own 
career — my  marriage,   my  various  enterprises, 
my  connections,  my  travels,  my  studies,  and  so 
on.    I  witnessed  at  the  same  time  the  develop- 
ment of  contemporary  history.    To  the  restora- 
tion of  Louis  XVIII.  succeeded  the  brief  reign  HiBtorical 
of  Charles   X.     I   saw  the  barricades  of  the  :!"!*'•„ 
days  of  July  1830,  and  not  far  from  the  throne  succession. 
51 


LUMEN 

of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  I  saw  the  Column  of 
the  Bastile  arise.  Passing  i-apidly  over  eigh- 
teen years,  I  perceived  myself  at  the  Luxem- 
bourg at  the  time  when  that  magnificent 
avenue  was  opened,  that  avenue  I  loved  so 
much,  and  which  has  been  threatened  by  a 
recent  decree.  I  saw  Arago  again,  this  time 
at  the  Observatory,  and  I  beheld  the  crowd 
before  the  door  of  the  new  amphitheatre. 
I  recognised  the  Sorbonne  of  Cousin  and 
of  Guizot.  Then  I  shuddered  as  I  saw  my 
mother's  funeral  pass.  She  was  a  stern 
woman,  and  perhaps  a  little  too  severe  in  her 
judgments,  but  I  loved  her  dearly,  as  you 
know.  The  singular  and  brief  revolution  of 
1848  surprised  me  as  much  as  when  I  first 
witnessed  it.  On  the  Place  de  la  Bourse 
I  saw  Lamoriciere,  who  was  buried  last  year, 
and  in  the  Champs-Elysees,  Cavaignac,  who 
has  been  dead  five  or  six  years.  The  2nd 
of  December  found  me  an  observer  on  my 
solitary  tower,  and  from  thence  I  witnessed 
many  striking  events  which  passed  before  me, 
and  many  others  which  were  unknown  to  me. 

QujErens.  Did  the  event  pass  rapidly  before 
you? 

Lumen.  I  had  no  perception  of  time  ;  but 
the  whole  retrospective  panorama  appeared  to 


RESURRECTIO   PR.ETERITI 

me  in  successive  scenes — in  less  than  a  day, 
perhaps  in  a  few  hours. 

QujERENS.  Then  I  do  not  understand  you  at 
all.  Pardon  your  old  friend  this  interruption, 
a  little  too  abrupt  perhaps.  As  I  took  it,  you 
saw  the  real  events  of  your  life,  not  merely 
images  of  them.  But,  in  view  of  the  time 
necessary  for  the  passage  of  light,  these 
events  appeared  to  you  after  they  had  hap- 
pened. If,  then,  seventy-two  terrestrial  years 
had  passed  before  your  eyes,  they  should 
have  taken  seventy-two  years  to  apj)ear  to 
you,  and  not  a  few  hours.  If  the  year  1793 
appeared  to  you  only  in  1864,  the  year  1864, 
consequently,  should  only  in  1936  appear  to 
you. 

Lumen.  You  have  grounds  for  your  fresh 
objection,  and  this  proves  to  me  that  you 
have  perfectly  comprehended  the  theory  of 
this  fact.  I  fully  appreciate  your  belief  in 
me  ;  indeed  its  consciousness  helps  me  in  my 
explanations.     Thus  it   is   not  necessary  that  The  ana- 

•  i_  •    1    clironiam 

seventy-two  years  should  be  needed  in  which  explained. 
to  review  my  life,  for  under  the  impulse  of 
an  involuntary  force  all  its  events  passed 
before  me  in  less  than  a  day.  Continuing 
to  follow  the  course  of  my  existence,  I 
reached  its  later  years,  rendered  memorable 
53 


LUMEN 

by  tne  striking  changes  which  had  come  over 
Paris.  I  saw  our  old  friends,  and  you  your- 
self; my  daughter  and  her  charming  children; 
my  family,  and  circle  of  acquaintances ;  and 
last  of  all  I  saw  myself  lying  dead  upon  my 
bed,  and  I  was  present  at  the  final  scene. 
Yes ;  I  tell  you  I  had  returned  to  the  Earth. 
Drawn  by  the  contemplation  which  absorbed 
my  soul,  I  had  quickly  forgotten  the  moun- 
tain, the  old  men,  and  Capella.  Even  as  a 
dream  all  faded  from  my  mind. 

I  did  not  at  first  perceive  the  strange  vision 
which  captivated  all  my  faculties.  I  cannot 
tell  you  either  by  what  law  or  by  what 
power  souls  can  be  transported  with  such 
rapidity  from  one  place  to  another.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  /  had  returned  to  the  Earth  in  less 
than  a  day,  and  I  had  entered  my  chamber 
even  at  the  moment  of  my  decease.  Also 
in  this  returning  voyage  I  had  travelled 
faster  than  the  rays  of  light,  hence  the 
various  phases  of  my  life  on  Earth  had  un- 
rolled themselves  to  my  sight  in  their  succes- 
sive stages  as  they  occurred.  When  I  reached 
half-way  I  saAV  the  rays  of  light  arriving  only 
thirty-six  years  behind  time,  showing  me  the 
Earth,  not  as  it  appeared  seventy-two   years 

ago,   but    thirty-six.       When    I    had   travelled 
54 


RESURRECTIO    PR^TERITI 

three-quarters  of  the  way  I  saw  things  as  they 
had  been  eighteen  years  ago ;  at  the  half  of 
tlie  last  quarter,  as  they  were  nine  years  pre- 
viously ;  until  finally  the  whole  acts  of  my  life 
were  condensed  into  less  than  one  day  because 
of  the  rapid  rate  at  which  my  soul  had  tra- 
velled, which  far  surpassed  the  velocity  of  the 
rays  of  light. 

QuiERENs.  Was  not  this  a  very  strange 
phenomenon  ? 

Lumen.  Do  any  other  objections  rise  in 
your  mind  as  you  listen  to  me  .'' 

Qu^RENs.  No,  this  is  the  only  one;  or 
rather,  this  one  has  puzzled  and  interested 
me  so  greatly  that  it  has  absorbed  all  others. 

Lumen.  I  would  remark  that  there  is  an- 
other, an  astronomical  one,  which  I  will 
hasten  to  dispel,  for  fear  it  should  arise  and 
cloud  your  mind.  It  depends  upon  the 
Earth's  movement,  not  only  upon  its  diurnal 
rotation,  which  in  itself  would  be  sufficient 
to  prevent  my  seeing  the  facts  in  succession, 
but  this  movement  would  also  be  greatly 
accelei'ated  by  the  rapidity  of  my  return  to 
the  Earth.  Hence  seventy-two  years  would 
pass  before  me  in  less  than  a  day.  On 
reflection,    I    was    surprised    that    I    had    not 

earlier  perceived  this ;  yet  as  I  had  only  seen 
55 


LUMEN 

a    comparatively    small    number  of  countries, 

panoramas,  and  facts,   it   is    probable    that  in 

returning  to  our  planet  I  had  only  a  fleeting 

glance    for  a  few   moments  of  the  successive 

points  of  interest.     But  however  this  may  be, 

I    can   but   bear   evidence  that   I   have  been 

witness    to    the    rapid    succession    of    events 

both  throughout  the  century  and  of  my  own 

life. 

Qu^RENs.   That  difficulty  had  not  escaped 

me ;    I   had    weighed    the    thought,    and   had 

come  to  the  conclusion  that  you  had  revolved 

in  space,  even  as  a  balloon  is  spun  round  by 

the  rotation  of  the  globe.     It  is  true  that  the 

inconceivable  speed  with  which  you  would  be 

whirled  through  space  would  be  likely  to  give 

you    vertigo,   nevertheless,  after  hearing  your 

experience,  this  hypothesis  forces  itself  upon 

me,  that  spirits  rush  through  space  with  the 

lightness   and    velocity    of    thought  ;   and    in 

remarking  on   the    intensity  of  your  gaze  as 

you  approached    certain   parts    of  the    Earth, 

may  it   not   be  admissible  to  infer  that  this 

very  eagerness  to  see  certain  localities,  might 

be  the  reason  of  your  being  drawn  to  them, 

and   as   it   were   fixed    above   their   point   of 

vision  ? 

Lumen.    As   to   this    I    can   affirm    nothing, 
56 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

because  I  know  nothing ;  but  I  do  not  think 
this  is  the  explanation.  I  did  not  see  all  the 
events  of  my  life,  but  only  a  few  of  the  main 
ones,  which,  successively  unfolding,  passed  in 
review  before  me  on  the  same  visual  ray.  A 
magnetism  drew  me  imperiously  as  with  a 
chain  to  the  Earth ;  or,  if  you  prefer  it,  a  force 
similar  to  that  mysterious  attraction  of  the 
stars,  by  reason  of  which,  stars  of  a  lesser 
degree  would  inevitably  fall  upon  those  of  the 
first  magnitude,  unless  retained  in  their  orbits 
by  centrifugal  force. 

Qu^RENS.  In  reflecting  on  the  effect  of  the 
concentration  of  thought  upon  a  single  point, 
and  of  the  attraction  which  consequently 
ensues  towards  that  point,  I  cannot  but  con- 
clude that  therein  lies  the  mainspring  of  the 
mechanism  of  dreams. 

Lumen.    You    say    truly,   my   friend ;    I   can  The  source 

i>  •       .  I  .  1  ^  of  dreams. 

connrm  you  m  this  remark,  as  tor  many  years 
I  have  made  dreams  the  subject  of  a  special 
study  and  observation.  When  the  soul,  freed 
from  the  attentions,  the  preoccupations,  the 
encumbrance  of  the  body,  has  a  vision  of  the 
object  which  charms  it,  and  towards  which  it 
is  irresistibly  drawn,  all  disappear  except  the 
object.     That  alone  remains,  and  becomes  the 

centre  of  a  world  of  creations ;  the  soul  pos- 

57 


LUMEN 

sesses  it  entirely  without  any  reserve,  it  con- 
templates it,  it  seizes  it  as  its  own,  the  entire 
universe  is  effaced  from  the  memory  in  order 
that  its  domination  over  the  soul  may  be 
absolute.  I  felt  thus  on  being  drawn  earth- 
wards. I  saw  but  one  object,  around  which 
were  grouped  the  ideas,  the  images,  and  the 
associations  to  which  it  had  given  birth. 

QujErens.  Your  rapid  flight  to  Capella  and 
your  equally  rapid  return  to  the  Earth  were 
governed  by  this  psychological  law ;  and  you 
acted  more  freely  than  in  a  dream,  because 
your  soul  was  not  impeded  by  the  machinery 
of  your  organism.  Often  in  our  former  con- 
versations have  you  discoursed  to  me  upon  the 
strength  of  the  will.  Thus,  willing  to  do  so, 
you  were  enabled  to  return  and  to  see  your- 
self upon  your  death-bed  before  your  mortal 
remains  had  been  committed  to  the  dust. 

Lumen.    I    did    return ;    and    I    blessed    my 

family  for  the  sincerity  of  their  grief.     1  shed 

a  benediction  on  them;  I  soothed  their  grief, 

and  poured  balm  upon  their  wounded  hearts  ; 

and   I   inspired   my   children  with    the  belief 

that  the   body   lying  there  was  not  my   real 

self — my  ego — but  merely  the  shell  from  which 

my  soul  had  risen  to  a  sphere  celestial,  infinite, 

and  far  beyond  their  earthly  ken.     I  witnessed 
58 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

my  own  funeral  procession,  and  I  noticed  those  Lumen 
who  called  themselves  my  friends  and  who  yet,  ijjg  ^^^ 
for  some  trifling  reason,  begged  to  be  excused  ^^^''^i- 
from  following  my  remains  to  their  last  resting- 
place.  I  listened  to  the  various  comments  of 
those  following  my  bier,  and  although  in  this 
region  of  peace  we  are  free  from  that  thirst 
for  praise  which  clings  to  most  of  us  whilst 
on  Earth,  nevertheless  I  felt  gratified  to  know 
that  I  had  left  pleasant  memories  behind  me. 
When  the  stone  of  the  vault  was  rolled  away, 
that  which  separates  the  dead  from  the  living, 
I  gave  a  last  farewell  to  my  poor  sleeping 
body ;  and,  as  the  Sun  set  in  its  bed  of  purple 
and  gold,  I  went  out  into  the  air  until  night 
had  fallen,  plunged  in  admiration  of  the  beauti- 
ful scenes  which  unrolled  themselves  in  the 
heavens.  The  aurora  borealis  displayed  itself 
above  the  North  Pole  in  bands  of  glistening 
silver,  shooting  stars  rained  from  Cassiopeia, 
and  the  full  Moon  rose  slowly  in  the  east  like 
a  new  world  emerging  from  the  waves.  I  saw 
Capella  scintillating  and  looking  at  me  with  a 
glance  pure  and  bright,  and  could  distinguish 
the  crowns  surrounding  it,  as  if  they  were 
princes  dowered  with  a  celestial  divinity. 
Then  I  forgot  the  Earth,  the  Moon,  the  His  flight  to 
Planetary  System,  the  Sun,  the  Comets,  in  one 


LUMEN 

intense,  overpowering  attraction  towards  a 
shining  brilliant  star,  and  I  felt  myself  carried 
towards  it  instinctively  with  a  celerity  far 
greater  than  that  of  an  electric  flash.  After 
a  time,  the  duration  of  which  I  cannot  guess, 
I  arrived  upon  the  same  ring  and  upon  the 
same  mountain,  from  which  I  had  first  kept 
watch  when  I  saw  the  old  men  occupied  in 
following  the  history  of  the  Earth,  seventy-one 
years  and  eight  months  ago.  They  were  still 
absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  events  hap- 
pening in  the  city  of  Lyons  on  the  23rd  of 
January  1793.  I  will  avow  to  you  the  reason 
of  the  mysterious  attraction  of  Capella  for  me. 
For  marvellous  as  it  may  seem,  there  are  in 
creation  invisible  ties  which  do  not  break  like 
mortal  ties ;  there  are  means  by  which  souls 
can  commune  with  each  other,  in  spite  of  the 
distance  that  separates  them. 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  day,  as  the 
emerald  Moon  enshrined  itself  in  the  third 
ring  of  gold — for  such  is  the  sidereal  measure- 
ment of  time — I  found  myself  walking  in  a 
lonely  avenue  enamelled  with  flowers  of  sweet 
perfume.  Sauntering  along,  as  if  in  a  dream, 
He  meets  imagine  my  delight  when  I  saw  coming  to- 
hiswife.       wards  me  my  beautiful    and    beloved   Sylvia. 

She  was  at  a  ripe  age  at  her  death,  and  not- 
60 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

withstanding  an  indefinable  change  I  recog- 
nised the  features^  whose  expression  had  but 
deepened  and  spiritualised,  in  happy  corre- 
spondence with  her  sweet,  pure  life.  I  will 
not  stop  to  describe  to  you  the  joy  of  our 
meeting,  this  is  not  the  time  for  it;  but 
perchance  some  day  we  may  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  descanting  upon  the  different  mani- 
festations of  affection  in  this  world  and  the 
world  beyond  the  grave,  and  I  only  add  now 
that  together  we  sought  our  native  land  on 
Earth,  where  we  had  passed  days  of  peace 
and  happiness.  We  delighted  to  turn  our 
gaze  towards  the  luminous  point,  which  our 
state  of  exaltation  enabled  us  to  perceive  was 
a  world — the  one  upon  which  we  had  lived 
in  earthly  form — we  loved  to  wed  the  memory 
of  the  past  with  the  reality  of  our  present, 
and  in  all  the  freshness  of  our  new  and 
ecstatic    sensations    we    sought    to   recall   and  They  recall 

their  life  cd 

review  the  scenes  of  our  youth.  It  was  thus  Earth. 
we  actually  saw  again  the  happy  years  of  our 
earthly  love,  the  pavilion  of  the  convent,  the 
flower  garden,  the  promenades  in  the  charm- 
ing and  delightful  environs  of  Paris,  and  the 
solitary  rambles  that,  loving  and  beloved,  we 
took   together.      To   retrace   these   years   we 

had  but  to  travel  together  into  space  in  the 
61 


The  pre- 
cession of 
events  as 
seen  in 
space. 


LUMEN 

direction  of  the  Earth,  where  these  scenes, 
focused  by  the  Hght,  were  being  photo- 
graphed. Now,  my  friend,  I  have  fulfilled 
my  promise  in  revealing  to  you  these  remark- 
able observations. 

Behold  the  day  breaks,  and  the  star  Lucifer 
is  paling  already  under  its  rosy  light.  I  must 
return  to  the  constellations.  .  .  . 

QuiERENs.  Just  one  more  word.  Lumen, 
before  we  conclude  this  interview.  Can 
earthly  scenes  be  transmitted  successively 
into  space — if  so,  the  present  could  be  kept 
perpetually  before  the  eyes  of  distant  spec- 
tators, and  be  limited  only  by  the  power  of 
their  spiritual  sight  ? 

Lumen.  Yes,  my  friend.    Let  us,  for  example, 

place   our   first   observer    on   the    Moon  —  he 

would  perceive  terrestrial  events  one  second 

and  a  quarter  after  they  had  happened.     Let 

us  place  a  second  observer  at  four  times  the 

distance — he  Avould  be  cognisant  of  them  five 

seconds   later.       Double    the    distance,   and   a 

third  would  see  them  ten  seconds  after  they 

had  taken  place.     Again  double  the  distance, 

and    a    fourth    observer    would    have    to    wait 

twenty  seconds  before  he  could  witness  them  ; 

so  on  and  on  with  ever-increasing  delay,  until 

at  the  Sun's  distance  ;  eight  minutes  and  thir- 
62 


RESURRECTIO   PR^TERITI 

teen  seconds  must  elapse  before  they  could 
become  visible. 

Upon  certain  planets,  as  we  have  seen, 
hours  must  intervene  between  the  action  and 
the  sight  of  it ;  further  off  still,  days,  months 
even  years  must  elapse.  Upon  neighbouring 
stars  earthly  events  are  not  seen  until  four, 
six,  ten  years  after  their  occurrence ;  but 
there  are  stars  so  distant  that  light  only 
reaches  them  after  many  centuries,  and  even 
thousands  of  years.  Indeed,  there  are  nebula 
to  which  light  takes  millions  of  years  to 
travel. 

Qu^RENs.  Therefore  it  only  needs  a  sight 
sufficiently  piercing  to  witness  events  historic 
or  geologic  which  are  long  since  past.  Could 
not  one,  therefore,  so  gifted  see  the  Deluge, 
the  Garden  of  Eden,  Adam  and  .  .  . 

Lumen.  I  have  told  you,  my  old  friend, 
that  the  rising  of  the  sun  on  this  hemisphere 
puts  to  flight  all  spirits,  so  I  must  go.  An- 
other interview  may  be  granted  us  some  other 
day,  when  we  can  continue  our  talk  on  this 
subject,  and  I  will  then  give  you  a  general 
sketch  which  will  open  out  for  you  new 
horizons.  The  stars  call  me,  and  are  already 
disappearing.     I  must  away.     Adieu,  Quaerens, 

adieu. 

68 


SECOND    CONVERSATION 

REFLUUM    TEMPORIS 

I 

QuiERENS.  Your  revelations  which  were  inter- 
rupted by  the  break  of  day,  O  Lumen,  have 
left  me  hungering  and  thirsting  to  hear  more 
of  this  wonderful  mystery.  As  a  child  to 
whom  one  shows  a  delicious  fruit  longs  to 
have  a  bite,  and  when  he  has  tasted  of 
it  begs  for  more,  so  my  curiosity  is  eager 
to  have  renewed  enjoyment  of  these  para- 
doxes of  nature.  May  I  venture  to  submit 
to  you  a  few  questions  in  relation  to  the 
subject,  which  have  been  suggested  to  me 
by  the  friends  to  whom  I  have  communi- 
cated the  substance  of  your  revelations,  and 
then  may  I  ask  you  to  continue  the  narrative 
of  your  impressions  of  the  regions  beyond  this 
Earth  ? 

Lumen.   No,  my  friend,  I  cannot  consent  to 

such    curiosity.      However   perfectly  disposed 
64 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 
your  mind  may  be  to  accept  my  communica-  Scientific 

1      1  11      1         1  1  -truth,  not 

tions,  I  am  convinced  that  all  the  details  of  fancy  or 
my  subject  have  not  been  equally  apprehended  ™ 
by  yoUj  and  are  not  in  your  eyes  equally  self- 
evident.  My  recital  has  been  called  mystical 
by  those  who  have  not  quite  understood  that 
it  is  neither  a  romance  nor  a  phantasy,  but 
a  scientific  truth,  a  physical  fact  demonstrable 
and  demonstrated,  indisputable  and  as  posi- 
tive as  the  fall  of  an  aerolite  or  the  motion 
of  a  cannon-ball.  The  reason  which  prevents 
you  and  your  friends  from  fully  comprehend- 
ing these  facts  is,  that  they  took  place  beyond 
this  Earth,  in  regions  foreign  to  the  sphere 
of  your  impressions,  and  inaccessible  to  your 
terrestrial  senses.  Naturally  you  do  not  com- 
prehend them.  (Pardon  my  frankness,  but  in 
the  spiritual  world  one  is  frank;  there,  even 
thoughts  are  visible.)  You  only  comprehend 
those  things  which  you  perceive.  And  as  you 
persist  in  regarding  your  ideas  of  time  and 
space  as  absolute,  although  they  are  only  rela- 
tive, and  thence  form  a  juc  ,ment  on  truths 
which  are  quite  beyond  your  sphere,  and  which 
are  imperceptible  to  your  terrestrial  organism 
and  faculties,  I  should  not  do  you  a  true  ser- 
vice, my  friend,  in  giving  you  fuller  details  of 

my  ultra-terrestrial  observations. 

65  E 


LUMEN 

An  inquir-        QuiERENs.  It  is  not,  I  assure  yoUj  in  a  spirit 

ing  mind.  ,     .        ,  .      .  ,  -,  j  i     .     t 

ot  Simple  curiosity,  dear  Lumen,  that  1  ven- 
tured to  draw  you  forth  from  the  bosom  of 
the  invisible  world,  where  advanced  souls  par- 
take of  indescribable  joys.  But  I  have  under- 
stood, perhaps  better  than  you,  the  grandeur 
of  the  problem,  and  it  is  under  the  inspiration 
of  an  earnest,  studious  avidity  that  I  seek  for 
other  aspects  of  it,  still  more  novel  than  those 
you  have  given  me,  if  I  may  say  so,  or  rather 
more  bold  and  more  incomprehensible.  As 
the  result  of  reflection,  I  have  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that  what  we  know  is  nothing,  and 
that  what  we  do  not  know  is  everything ;  I  am 
therefore  disposed  to  welcome  everything  you 
tell  me.  I  beg  of  you,  if  you  will  allow  me,  to 
share  your  revelations  .  .  . 

Lumen.  The  fact  is,  my  friend,  I  assure  you, 
either  you  are  not  sufficiently  able  to  under- 
stand, or  you  are  too  willing  to  believe  :  in  the 
first  case,  you  do  not  fully  comprehend  ;  in  the 
second,  you  are  too  credulous,  and  do  not  ap- 
preciate my  communications  at  their  full  value. 
However,  I  shall  continue. 

Qu^RENs.  Dear  comrade  of  my  earthly  life ! 

Lumen.  The  remaining  facts,  which  I  shall 
now  relate  to  you,  are  still  more  extraordinary 
than  any  that  preceded  them. 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

Qu^RENS.  I  feel  like  Tantalus  in  the  midst 
of  his  lake,  or  like  the  spirits  in  the  twenty- 
fourth  canto  of  the  Puvgatorio.  I  am  as  eager 
as  the  Hesperides  holding  out  their  hands  for 
the  fragrant  fruit,  or  as  Eve  in  her  desire 
for  ,  .   . 

Lumen.  Some  time  after  my  departure  from  Travelling 

on  a  ray  of 
the    Earth,   the   eyes   oi    my   soul    bemg   still  ught. 

mournfully  directed  toward  my  native  world,  I 
found  that,  on  an  attentive  examination,  I  could 
perceive  at  the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude 
and  the  35th  degree  of  longitude,  a  triangular 
piece  of  land  of  a  sombre  colour,  north  of  the 
Black  Sea,  on  the  shores  of  which  I  saw,  towards 
the  west,  a  giievous  number  of  my  compatriots 
madly  engaged  in  killing  one  another.  I  re- 
called to  mind  that  relic  of  barbarism,  war, 
formerly  called  glorious,  with  which  you  are 
still  beset  and  burdened,  and  I  remembered 
that  in  this  corner  of  the  Crimea  800,000  men 
fell,  in  ignorance  of  the  cause  of  their  mutual 
massacre.  Some  clouds  then  passed  over 
Europe.  At  that  time  I  was  not  on  Capella, 
but  in  mid  space,  between  that  star  and  the 
Earth,  about  half  the  distance  from  Vega. 
Having  left  the  Earth  some  time  before,  I 
turned  toward  a  group  of  stars,  that,  seen  from 

your  planet,  are  to  the  left  of  Capella.     Mean- 
67 


LUMEN 

while  my  thoughts  recurred  from  time  to  time 
to  the  Earthj  and  soon  after  taking  the  observa- 
tion to  which  I  have  referred,  my  eyes  being 
Lumen  sees  fixed  on  Paris,  I  was  surprised  to  see  it  a  prey 

the  Revolu-  .  „     ,  i  -n  •    • 

tion  of  1848.  to  an  msurrection  oi  the  people.  Exarammg 
it  more  attentively,  I  discerned  barricades  on 
the  boulevards,  near  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and 
along  the  streets,  and  the  citizens  firing  at  one 
another.  The  first  idea  that  occurred  to  me 
was  that  a  new  revolution  was  taking  place 
before  my  eyes,  and  that  Napoleon  III.  was 
dethroned.  But,  by  the  secret  sympathy  of 
souls,  my  sight  was  attracted  to  a  barricade  in 
the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine,  upon  which  I  saw 
lying  prostrate  the  Archbishop  Denis  Auguste 
Affre,  with  whom  I  had  been  slightly  ac- 
quainted. His  sightless  eyes  were  turned 
towards  the  heavens  where  I  was,  but  he  saw 
nothing ;  in  his  hand  he  held  a  green  branch. 
I  was  thus  witnessing  the  days  of  1848,  and  in 
particular  that  of  the  25th  of  June. 

A  few  minutes  —  a  few  hours,  perhaps  — 
passed,  during  which  my  imagination  and 
my  reason  sought  in  tui'ns  for  an  explana- 
tion of  this  special  scene.  To  see  1848  after 
1854!  When  my  sight  was  again  attracted 
to  the  Earth,   I    remarked   a   distribution   of 

tricoloured   flags   in   a   grand    square    of   the 
68 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

city  of  Lyons.  Trying  to  distinguish  the 
official  person  who  was  making  this  distri- 
bution, I  recognised  the  uniforms,  and  I  re- 
membered that  after  the  accession  of  Louis 
Philippe,  the  young  Duke  of  Orleans  had 
been  sent  to  quell  the  disturbances  in  the 
capital  of  French  manufactures.  It  followed 
from    thence     that,    after    1854    and    1848,    I 

had  before  my  eyes  an  event  of  1831.     Pre- He  sees  the 

.  -11       events  of 

sently  my  glance  turned  to  Fans  on  the  day  igsi. 

of  a  pubHc  fete.  The  king,  a  coarse-looking 
man,  with  a  rubicund  face,  was  tearing  along 
in  a  magnificent  chariot,  and  was  just  crossing 
the  Pont  Neuf.  The  weather  was  splendid. 
Some  fair  ladies  posed,  like  a  basket  of  lilies, 
on  the  white  parapet  of  the  bridge.  Floating 
over  Paris  some  brightly-coloured  creatures 
could  be  seen.  Evidently  I  beheld  the  en 
trance  of  the  Bourbons  into  France. 

I  should  not  have  understood  this  last 
strange  sight  if  I  had  not  recollected  that  a 
number  of  balloons,  in  the  form  of  animals, 
had  been  sent  up  on  that  occasion.  From  my 
higher  altitude  they  appeared  to  wriggle  about 
the  roofs  of  the  houses.  To  see  again  past 
events  was  comprehensible  enough,  according 
to  the  law  of  light.  But  to  see  things  con- 
trary to  their  real  order  in  time,  that  was  too 
Q9 


LUMEN 

fantastic,  and  puzzled  me  beyond  expression. 
Nevertheless,  as  I  had  the  things  before  my 
eyes,  I  could  not  deny  the  fact.  I  sought 
forthwith  for  some  hypothesis  to  account  for 
Supposed  this  singular  phenomenon.  At  first  I  supposed 
of  thia  it  was  really  the  Earth  that  I  saw,  and  that  by 

strange  ^  f^^^  ^£  fate,  the  secret  of  which  is  known 
only  to  God,  the  history  of  France  repeats 
itself,  and  passes  through  the  same  phases 
that  it  has  already  traversed ;  that  the  course 
of  events  proceed  up  to  a  certain  maximum, 
where  they  shine  gloriously  for  a  time,  and 
then  comes  a  reaction  to  the  original  state 
of  things,  by  an  oscillation  in  human  affairs 
like  the  variations  of  the  magnetic  needle, 
or  like  the  movements  of  the  stars. 

The  personages  whom  I  took  for  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  and  Louis  XVIII.  were  perhaps 
other  princes,  who  were  repeating  exactly  what 
the  former  had  done.  This  hypothesis,  how- 
ever, appeared  to  be  so  very  extraordinary,  that 
I  paused  to  consider  a  more  rational  theory. 
Admitting  the  fact  of  the  number  of  stars, 
with  planets  moving  round  them,  is  it  not 
probable  that  a  world  exactly  like  the  Earth 
exists  somewhere  in  the  universe  of  space  ? 
The  calculation  of  probabilities  supplies  an 

answer   to   this   question.      The    greater   the 
70 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

number  of  worlds,  the  greater  will  be  the  Calculation 
probability  that  the  forces  of  nature  have  bufues'^ 
given  birth  to  an  organisation  like  that  of  the 
Earth.  Now  the  real  number  of  worlds  sur- 
passes all  human  calculation,  either  written  or 
possible  to  be  written.  If  we  could  under- 
stand what  "  infinite  "  means,  we  might  ven- 
ture to  say  that  this  number  is  infinite.  I 
concluded,  then,  that  there  is  a  veiy  high 
jirobability  in  favour  of  the  existence  of  many 
worlds  exactly  like  the  Earth,  on  the  surface 
of  which  the  same  history  is  accomplished,  and 
the  same  succession  of  historical  events  takes 
place ;  worlds  which  are  inhabited  by  iden- 
tically the  same  species  of  vegetables  and  ani- 
mals, and  the  same  humanity,  and  where  men 
and  families  like  our  own,  I  doubt  not,  exist. 

In  the  second  place,  I  asked  myself  if 
another  world  analogous  to  the  Earth  might 
not  also  be  sjTumetrical  to  it ;  and  then  I 
worked  out  the  geometry  of  the  pi-oblem,  and 
the  metaphysical  theory  of  images.  I  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  it  Avas  possible  for  the 
world  in  question  to  be  like  the  Earth,  but  in 
an  inverse  form.  When  you  look  at  yourself 
in  a  mirror,  you  notice  that  the  ring  on  your 
right  hand  appears  to  be  on  the  ring-finger  of 

your  left  hand.     This  explains  the  symbol.     If 
71 


LUMEN 

you  wink  your  right  eye^  your  reflection  winks 
the  left  eye ;  when  you  advance  your  right 
arm,  your  image  advances  the  left  arm.  It  is 
not  impossible  that  in  the  infinity  of  the  stars 
a  world  exists  exactly  the  converse  of  the  ter- 
restrial world.  Undoubtedly  in  an  infinity  of 
worlds  the  non-existence  of  a  similar  world, 
pei'haps  of  millions  of  them,  would  be  the  real 
impossibility.  Nature  of  necessity  repeats  her- 
self, reproduces  herself,  but  still  under  all 
forms  plays  the  game  of  creation.  I  thought 
therefore  that  the  world  on  which  I  saw  those 
things  was  not  the  Earth,  but  a  globe  like  the 
Earth,  the  history  of  which  was  precisely  the 
opposite  of  yours. 

QujERens.  I  myself  have  had  the  idea  also 
that  it  might  have  been  as  you  say.  But  was 
it  not  easy  for  you  to  make  sure  of  it  by  ascer- 
taining whether  it  was  the  Earth  or  another 
star  that  you  had  before  your  eyes,  by  examin- 
ing its  astronomical  position  ? 
The  solution  LuMEN.  That  is  precisely  what  I  did  imme- 
lem.  diately,  and  this  examination  confirmed  me  in 

my  opinion.  The  star  where  I  had  just  wit- 
nessed four  facts,  analogous  to  four  terrestrial 
facts,  but  inversely,  did  not  appear  to  me  to 
occupy  its  original  position.  The  little  constella- 
tion of  the  Altar  no  longer  existed,  and  on  that 
72 


REFLUUM  TEMPORIS 

side  of  the  heavens  where  you  remember  the 
Earth  appeared  to  be  in  my  first  episode,  there 
was  an  irregular  polygon  of  unknown  stars.  I 
was  thus  convinced  that  it  was  not  our  Earth 
that  I  had  before  my  eyes.  I  could  no  longer 
feel  any  doubt  about  it,  and  I  was  satisfied  that 
I  had  now,  for  my  field  of  exploration,  a  world 
so  much  the  more  curious  that  it  was  not  the 
Earth,  and  that  its  history  appeared  to  repre- 
sent, in  an  inverse  order,  the  scenes  of  the 
history  of  our  world. 

Some  events,  it  is  true,  did  not  appear  to 
have  corresponding  ones  on  the  Earth,  but  in 
general  the  coincidence  was  veiy  remarkable. 
I  was  the  more  struck  with  this  because  the 
contempt  which  I  feel  for  the  instigators  of 
war  had  led  me  to  hope  that  a  folly  so  absurd 
and  so  infamous  might  not  have  existed  in  History 
other  worlds.  But,  on  the  contrary,  the  greater 
part  of  the  events  which  I  witnessed  were 
combats  or  preparations  for  war.  After  a 
battle,  which  appeared  to  me  very  much  to 
resemble  that  of  Waterloo,  I  saw  the  battle  of 
the  Pyramids.  An  image  of  Napoleon  as  em- 
peror had  become  first  Consul,  and  I  saw  the 
Revolution  succeed  to  the  Consulate.  Some 
time   after  I  observed  the  square  in  front  of 

the  Chateau  of  Versailles  covered  with  mourn- 
73 


retraced 


LUMEN 

ing-coaches,  and  in  an  open  pathway  from 
Ville-d'Avray  I  recognised  the  botanist  Jean 
Jacques  Rousseau  slowly  walking  along,  and, 
no  doubt,  at  that  moment  philosophising  on  the 
death  of  Louis  XV.  I  was  particularly  struck 
with  the  gala  fetes  at  the  beginning  of  the 
reign  of  Louis  XV.,  worthy  successors  of  those 
of  the  Regency,  during  which  the  treasures 
of  France  glistened  in  precious  stones  on  the 
finffers  of  the  three  or  four  adored  courtesans. 
I  saw  Voltaire,  with  his  white  cotton  cap,  in  his 
park  at  Fei-ney ;  and  later  on,  Bossuet,  walking 
on  the  little  terrace  of  his  episcopal  palace  at 
Meaux,  not  far  from  the  little  hill  through 
which  the  railway  is  now  cut,  but  I  could  not 
see  the  least  trace  of  the  railway  line.  In  this 
same  succession  of  events,  I  saw  the  highroads 
covered  with  diligences,  and  large  sailing  ships 
on  the  seas.  Steam  and  all  the  factories  that 
are  moved  by  it  now,  had  disappeared.  Neither 
telegraphs  nor  any  other  application  of  elec- 
tricity existed.  Balloons,  which  more  than  once 
I  had  seen  in  the  field  of  observation,  were  lost 
to  sight.  The  last  that  I  saw  was  the  shapeless 
globe  sent  up  by  the  brothers  Montgolfier  at 
Annonay  in  the  presence  of  the  States-General. 
The  face  of  the  Earth  was  quite  changed — 

Paris,  Lyons,  Marseilles,  Havre,  and  more  especi- 

74 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

ally  Versailles^  were  not  recognisable  ;  the  first  France  of 
four  had  lost  their  immense  activity,  the  last       ^ 
had  gained  incomparably  in  magnificence. 

I  had  formed  a  ver}"  imperfect  idea  of  the 
splendour  of  the  royal  fetes  at  Versailles.  It 
was  a  satisfaction  to  me  to  be  present  at  them; 
and  it  was  not  without  interest  that  I  recognised 
Louis  XIV.  himself,  on  the  splendid  terrace  at 
the  westj  surrounded  by  a  thousand  nobles 
whose  breasts  were  covered  with  decorations. 
It  was  in  the  evening  ;  the  last  rays  of  glowing 
sunshine  were  reflected  on  the  royal  fa9adej  The 
whilst  gallant  couples  gravely  descended  the 
steps  of  the  marble  stairs,  and  presently  dis- 
appeared along  the  silent  and  shady  avenues. 
My  sight  was  fixed  in  preference  on  France,  or 
at  least  toward  that  region  of  this  unknown 
world  which  represented  France  to  me ;  for 
absence  makes  the  heart  grow  fonder,  and  Avhen 
far  from  one's  country  one  thinks  of  it  all  the 
more,  and  recurs  with  ever  new  interest  to 
the  thought  of  it.  Do  not  believe  that  souls 
liberated  from  their  bodies  are  scornful,  and 
indifferent,  and  devoid  of  memory.  Our  exist- 
ence would  then  be  a  sad  one.  No ;  we  pre- 
serve the  faculty  of  remembrance.  Our  hearts 
are  not  AvhoUy  absorbed  in  the  life  of  the  spirit ; 

and  so  it  was   with   an   instinctive  feeling  of 

75 


LUMEN 

delightj  which  you  can  imagine,  that  thus  I  saw 
again  the  history  of  France  unfolded  before  me 
as  though  its  phases  were  being  accomplished 
in  an  inverse  order. 
Feudalism.  After  the  peoj>]e  had  amalgamated  into  one 
nationality,  I  saw  the  rule  of  a  single  sove- 
reign established.  After  that  came  princely 
feudalism.  Mazarin,  Richelieu,  Louis  XIII.,  and 
Henry  IV.  appeared  to  me  at  Saint  Germain. 
The  Bourbons  and  the  Guises  resumed  their 
skirmishes  for  me.  I  thought  I  could  dis- 
tinguish the  night  of  St.  Bartholomew.  I  saw 
some  special  events  in  the  liistory  of  our  pro- 
vinces— for  instance,  one  of  the  scenes  in  the 
sorcery  of  Chaumont,  which  I  had  time  to 
observe,  before  the  Church  of  Saint  Jean,  and 
the  massacre  of  the  Protestants  at  Vassy. 
What  a  comedy  is  human  life !  Alas !  too 
often  a  tragedy  !  Suddenly  I  beheld  in  space 
the  magnificent  comet  of  1577,  in  the  form  of  a 
sabre.  In  grand  array  in  the  midst  of  a  plain, 
brilliantly  decorated,  I  recognised  Francis  I.  and 
Charles  V.  saluting  one  another.  Louis  XI.  I 
perceived  on  a  terrace  of  the  Bastile,  attended 
by  his  two  gloomy  companions.  Later  on,  my 
sight  was  turned  to  a  square  in  Rouen,  where  I 
observed  flames  and  smoke,  and  in  their  midst 

Joan  of  Arc.  I  discerned  the  form  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans. 

76 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

Convinced  as  I  was  that  the  world  I  was  look- 
ing at  was  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  Earth, 
I  divined  beforehand  the  events  that  I  was 
about  to  see.  Thus,  after  having  seen  Saint 
Louis  dying  before  Tunis,  I  was  present  at  the 
eighth  Crusade,  and  subsequently  at  the  third.  The 
where  I  recognised  Frederick  Barbarossa  by 
his  beard.  Then  at  the  first  Crusade,  when 
Peter  the  Hermit  and  Godfrey  reminded  me 
of  Tasso.  I  was  not  a  little  surprised.  I  then 
expected  to  see,  in  succession,  Hugh  Capet, 
leading  a  procession,  arrayed  in  his  official 
robes ;  the  Council  of  Tauriacum  deciding 
that  the  judgment  of  God  would  be  pronounced 
in  the  battle  of  Fontanet ;  Charles  the  Bald 
ordering  the  massacre  of  a  hundred  thousand 
men  and  all  the  Merovingian  nobility ;  Charle- 
magne crowned  in  Rome :  his  war  against 
the  Saxons  and  the  Lombards  ;  Charles  Martel 
hammering  away  at  the  Saracens  ;  King  Dago- 
bert  founding  the  Abbey  of  St.  Denis,  just  as 
I  had  seen  Alexander  IIL  laying  the  first  stone 
of  Notre  Dame ;  Bruneliaut  dragged  along 
the  pavement  by  a  hoi-se ;  the  Visigoths,  the 
Vandals,  the  Ostrogoths,  Clovis  Meroveus  ap- 
pearing in  the  country  of  the  Saliens :  in  a  The  history 
word,  the  history  of  France,  from  its  very  be-  unrolled. 
ginnmg,  unrolled  itself  before  me  in  an  order 
77 


LUMEN 

inverse  to  the  succession  of  events — this  was 
what  actually  happened.  Many  historical  ques- 
tions which  were  very  important,  and  which 
had  hitherto  been  obscure  to  me,  were  rendered 
clear.  I  ascertained,  among  other  things,  that 
the  French  were  the  original  possessors  of  the 
right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  that  the  Germans 
have  no  right  to  claim  that  river,  and  still  less 
to  dispute  the  possession  of  the  left  bank. 

There  was,  I  assure  you,  an  immense  interest 
in  taking  part,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  in 
the  events  of  v/hich  I  had  but  the  vague  ideas 
derived  from  the  echoes  of  history,  often  de- 
ceptive, and  in  visiting  countries  that  are  now 
totally  transformed.  The  vast  and  brilliant 
capital  of  modern  civilisation  became  old  to 
me,  and  had  shrunk  to  the  size  of  an  ordinary 
town,  but  was  at  the  same  time  fortified  with 
Old  Paris,  crenellated  towers.  I  admired  in  turns  the 
beautiful  city  of  the  fifteenth  century,  its 
curious  tj'pes  of  architecture,  the  celebrated 
tower  of  Nesle,  and  the  extensive  convents 
of  Saint  Germain-des-Pres.  Where  the  tower 
of  St.  Jacques  now  stands,  I  recognised  the 
gloomy  court  of  the  alchemist  Nicolas  Flamel. 
The  round  and  pointed  roofs  had  the  singular 
effect  of  looking  like  mushrooms  on  the  banks 

of  a  river.      Then    this    feudal    aspect  disap- 
78 


REFLUUM    TEMPORIS 

peared,  and  gave  place  to  a  solitary  castle  in 

the  Seine  valley  surrounded  by  cottages ;  and 

finally  there  was  nothing  but  a  fertile  plain, 

where  one  could  only  distinguish  a  few  huts 

of  savages.     At  the  same  time  I  remarked  that 

the  seat  of  civilisation  was  changed,  and  was 

now  in  the  south.     I  will  confess  to  you,  my 

friend,  that  I  never  felt  greater  delight  than 

at  the  moment  when  I  was  permitted  to  see 

Rome  of  the  Csesars  in  all  its  splendour.     It  Rome  of  the 

Csesars. 
was  the  day  of  a  triumph,  and  no  doubt  under 

the  rule  of  the  Syrian  princes ;  for  in  tlie 
midst  of  magnificent  surroundings,  gorgeous 
chariots,  the  purple  oriflammes  of  the  Senate, 
and  of  elegant  women  and  of  performei's  of 
theatres,  I  distinguished  the  Emperor  luxu- 
riously reclining  in  a  golden  car,  clothed  in 
delicately-coloured  silk,  covered  with  precious 
stones  and  ornaments  in  gold  and  silvei*,  which 
glittered  in  the  golden  sunshine.  This  must 
have  been  Heliogabalus,  the  priest  of  the  sun. 
The  Coliseum,  the  temple  of  Antoninus,  the 
triumphal  arches,  and  Trajan's  column  were 
standing.  Rome  was  in  all  its  ancient  beauty 
and  grandein-,  that  last  beautiful  phase  which 
was  no  more  than  a  scene  in  a  theatre  to 
those  crowned  buffoons.  A  little  later  I  was 
present  at  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  which 
79 


LUMEN 


Judea. 
Calvary. 


Death  of 

Julius 

Ccesar. 


overwhelmed  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii.  I 
saw  Rome  in  flames,  j  ust  for  a  moment ;  and 
althougli  I  was  not  able  to  distinguish  Nero 
on  his  terrace,  I  have  no  doubt  I  beheld  the 
conflagration  in  the  year  64,  and  the  signal 
for  the  persecution  of  the  Christians.  A  few 
hours  after,  my  attention  being  still  occupied 
in  examining  the  extensive  gardens  by  the 
Tiber,  I  had  just  seen  the  Emperor  near  a 
parten*e  of  roses,  when,  in  consequence  of  the 
revolution  of  the  Earth  on  its  axis,  Judea  was 
presented  to  me.  How  anxiously  I  regarded 
it  when  I  distinguished  Jerusalem  and  the 
mountain  of  Golgotha.  Jesus  was  climbing 
this  mountain,  accompanied  by  a  few  women, 
escorted  by  a  troop  of  soldiers,  and  followed 
by  the  Jewish  populace.  I  shall  never  forget 
this  spectacle.  It  assumed  a  totally  diiferent 
aspect  to  me  from  what  it  did  to  those  who 
were  living  at  the  time  and  who  took  part  in 
it,  for  the  glorious  future  (and  the  past  also)  of 
the  Christian  Church  was  unfolded  for  me  as 
the  crown  of  the  Divine  sacrifice.  ...  I  cannot 
dwell  on  it ;  you  can  understand  what  various 
feelings  agitated  my  soul  on  this  supreme  occa- 
sion. ...  A  little  later,  returning  to  Rome, 
I  recognised  Julius  Caesar  prostrate  in  death, 

with    Antony    beside    him    holding    what    I 
80 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

think  was  a  roll  of  papyrus  in  his  left  hand. 
The  conspirators  were  hastening  down  to  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber.  With  a  very  natural 
curiosity  I  traced  back  the  life  of  Julius  Caesar, 
and  found  him  with  Vercingetorix  in  the  centre 
of  Gaul,  and  I  may  state  that  none  of  the  sup- 
positions of  our  modern  historians  respecting 
the  situation  of  Alesia  are  correct.  In  fact, 
this  fortress  was  situated  on  .  .  . 

Qu^RENs.  Master,  pardon  me  for  interrupt- 
ing you,  but  I  am  anxious  to  seize  this  oppor- 
tunity to  question  you  on  a  particular  point 
respecting  the  Dictator.  Since  you  have  seen 
Julius  Caesar,  tell  me,  I  pray  you,  if  his  face 
resembles  that  given  by  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
III.  in  his  great  work  on  the  life  of  that  famous 
captain  ? 

Lumen.  I  should  be  delighted,  my  old  friend, 
to  enlighten  you  on  this  point  if  it  were 
possible  for  me  to  do  so.  But  reflect  for  a 
moment,  and  you  will  see  that  the  laws  of 
perspective  forbid  me. 

Qu^RENS.  Of  perspective  ?  You  mean  to 
say  of  politics. 

Lumen.  No,  of  perspective  (although  these 
two  things  strongly  resemble  one  another) ;  for 
in  seeing  great  men  from  the  height  of  heaven, 
I  do  not  see  them  as  they  appear  to  the  vulgar. 


LUMEN 


Roman 
history. 


Building 
of  the 
Pyi-aniids. 


From  the  heavens  we  see  men  geometrically 
fi'om  above,  not  face  to  face ;  that  is  to  say, 
when  they  are  standing  we  have  only  a  hori- 
zontal projection  of  them.  You  may  remember 
that  once  in  a  balloon,  as  we  passed  over  the 
Vendome  Column  at  Paris,  you  remarked  to 
me  that  Napoleon  seen  from  that  height  was 
not  above  the  level  of  other  men.  It  was  just 
the  same  with  Ceesar.  In  the  other  world 
material  measures  disappear,  only  intellectual 
measures  exist. 

To  continue,  however,  I  retraced  history, 
from  Julius  Csesar  to  the  Consuls,  and  then  to 
the  kings  of  Latium,  in  order  to  witness  the 
rape  of  the  Sabines,  which  I  was  pleased  to 
observe  actually,  as  a  type  of  ancient  manners. 
History  has  embellished  many  things,  and  I 
discovered  that  most  events  as  represented  to 
us  are  totally  different  from  the  actual  facts. 
Then  I  saw  King  Candaules  in  Lydia,  in  the 
scene  in  the  bath  that  you  remember,  then 
the  invasion  of  Egypt  by  the  Ethiopians,  the 
oligarchical  republic  of  Corinth,  the  eighth 
Olympiad  in  Greece,  and  Isaiah  the  prophet 
in  Judea,  I  saw  the  building  of  the  Pyra- 
mids by  troops  of  obedient  slaves  under  chiefs 
mounted  on  dromedaries.    The  great  dynasties 

of  Bactria  and  of  India  appeared  before  me, 
82 


REFLUUM   TEM PORTS 

and  China  showed  the  marvellous  skill  in  the 
arts  that  she  possessed  even  before  the  birth 
of  the  western  world.  I  had  an  opportunity 
to  search  for  the  Atlantis  of  Plato,  and  I  saw 
that  the  opinions  of  Bailly  on  that  continent, 
now  submerged,  are  not  devoid  of  foundation. 
In  Gaul  I  could  distinguish  nothing  but  vast 
forests  and  swamps ;  even  the  Druids  had  dis- 
appeared, and  the  savage  inhabitants  sti-ongly 
resembled  those  that  we  find  now  in  Oceania. 
It  was  truly  the  stone  age  as  it  is  unearthed  for  The  stone 
us  by  modern  archaeologists.  Further  back  still, 
I  saw  that  the  number  of  men  diminished  bj 
degrees,  and  the  domination  of  nature  seemed 
to  belong  to  a  race  of  the  great  apes,  to  the 
cave  bears,  to  lions,  hyenas,  and  the  rhinoceros. 
A  moment  arrived  when  it  was  not  only  im- 
possible to  distinguish  a  single  man  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  but  when  not  the  least 
vestige  of  the  human  race  was  visible.  All  had 
disappeared ;  earthquakes,  volcanoes,  deluges 
pi-evailed  over  the  surface  of  the  planet,  and 
the  presence  of  man  in  the  midst  of  such  a 
chaotic  state  of  things  was  no  longer  possible, 

Qu^RENs.     I     shall    confess    to    you,    dear 

Lumen,  that   I   have  waited  with  impatience 

for  the  moment  when  you  should  arrive  at  the 

garden  of  Eden,  in  order  to  learn  in  vv'hat  form 

83 


LUMEN 

the  creation  of  the  human  race  on  the  earth 
was  presented  to  you.  I  am  surprised  that 
you  do  not  seem  to  have  thought  of  making 
this  important  observation. 

Lumen.  I  relate  to  you  only  the  things 
vifhich  I  saw,  my  curious  friend,  and  I  refrain 
from  substituting  the  dreams  of  my  imagination 
for  the  evidences  of  my  sight.  I  did  not  per- 
ceive the  least  trace  of  that  Eden  so  poetically 
depicted  in  the  primitive  theogonies.  Now, 
this  was  very  extraordinary,  since  the  resem- 
blance between  the  world  that  I  had  before 
my  eyes  and  the  Earth  was  so  complete.  It 
was  more  than  surprising,  if  the  terrestrial 
j)aradise  was  really  the  cradle  of  humanity. 
But  I  do  not  see  why  paradise  might  not  have 
been,  with  as  good  reason,  at  the  end  of  human 
society. 

Qu^RENs.  Indeed  I  think  it  would  be  more 
just  to  suppose  it  to  be  at  the  end  rather  than 
the  beginning,  as  the  result  and  the  recom- 
pense, instead  of  the  misunderstood  prelude, 
to  a  life  of  suffering.  But  since  you  have  not 
seen  it  I  shall  not  urge  my  question. 
Prehistoric  LuMEN.  Finally,  in  concluding  my  observa- 
ages.  tions  of  this  singular  world,  whose  history  was 

exactly  the  inverse  of  yours,  I  saw  marvellous 

animals,  of  monstious  forms,  in  combat  on  the 
84 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

shores  of  vast  oceans.  There  were  enormous 
serpents  arraed  with  formidable  paws ;  croco- 
diles that  flew  in  the  air,  sustained  by  wings 
organically  longer  than  their  bodies  ;  misshapen 
fishes  with  jaws  Avide  enough  to  swallow  an  ox  ; 
birds  of  prey  struggling  in  terrible  battles  in 
the  desert  islands.  There  were  whole  conti- 
nents covered  with  forests,  trees  with  enormous 
leaves  entangled  in  one  another  ;  a  vegetation 
at  once  sombre  and  severe,  for  the  vegetable 
kingdom  was  devoid  of  both  flowers  and  fruit. 
The  mountains  vomited  forth  clouds  of  flame 
and  vapour,  the  rivers  fell  in  cataracts,  the 
ground  opened  in  immense  chasms  in  which 
were  engulfed  hills,  woods,  streams,  trees,  and 
animals.  But  before  long  it  became  impossible 
for  me  to  perceive  even  the  surface  of  the 
globe ;  a  universal  sea  appeared  to  cover  it, 
and  the  vegetable  kingdom,  like  the  animal 
kingdom,  was  slowly  effaced,  and  gave  place 
to  a  monotonous  verdure  interspersed  with 
lightning  and  whitish  smoke.     Henceforth  it  A  dying 

11         world. 

was  a  dying  world.     1  was  present  at  the  last 

palpitations  of  its  heart,  intermittently  revealed 

in   the    gloom   by  flashes    of   flame.     Then  it 

seemed  to  me  that  it  rained  everywhere  over 

its  whole  surface,  for  the  Sun  threw  light  on 

nothing  but  clouds  and  torrents  of  rain.     The 
85 


LUMEN 

hemisphere  opposite  to  the  Sun  appeared  less 
sombre  than  before^  and  one  could  perceive 
a  dull  light  gleaming  through  the  tempests. 
This  light  increased  in  intensity,  and  spread 
over  the  entire  sphere.  Great  crevasses  became 
red  like  iron  in  the  furnace ;  and  as  iron  in  a 
hot  furnace  becomes  bright  red,  then  orange, 
then  yellow,  then  in  succession  white  and 
incandescent,  so  the  world  passed  through  all 
the  progressive  phases  of  heat.  Its  volume 
increased,  its  movement  of  rotation  became 
slower.  The  mysterious  globe  seemed  like  an 
immense  sphere  of  molten  metal  enveloped  in 
metallic  vapours.  Under  the  incessant  action 
of  this  interior  furnace  and  the  elemental  com- 
bats (or  combinations)  of  this  strange  chemistry, 
it  acquired  enormous  proportions,  and  the  sphere 
of  fire  became  a  sphere  of  smoke.  Thence  it 
went  on  developing  without  cessation,  and  lost 
its  personality.  The  Sun,  which  at  first  had 
shed  light  on  it,  no  longer  surpassed  it  in 
brightness,  and  it  itself  increased  so  much  in 
circumference  that  it  became  evident  to  me 
that  the  vaporous  planet  would  soon  lose  its 
own  existence  and  be  absorbed  in  the  enlarged 
atmosphere  of  the  Sun.  It  is  a  rare  experience 
to  be  present  at  the  end  of  a  world.     And  so 

in  my  enthusiasm  I  could  not  prevent  myself 
86 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

from  crying  out  with  a  kind  of  vanity^  "  Behold 

the  end  of  the  worlds  O  God  !  and  this,  then,  is 

the  fate  in  store  for  all  the  inhabited  worlds  ! " 

"  This  is  not  the  end,"  replied  a  voice  in  the  The  begin- 

hearing  of  my   soul;   "this   is   the    begi?i7iing."  i^^^^^^f 

"  How  can  this  be  the  beginning  ?  "  thought  I  "'®  ^^''"'• 

immediately.     ''The  beginning  of  the  Earth 

itself,"  replied  the  same  voice.     "  Thou  hast 

seen  over  again  the  whole  history  of  the  Earth 

in  thus  withdrawing  from  her  with  a  velocity  greater 

than  that  of  light." 

This  declaration  did  not  surprise  me  so  much 
as  the  first  episode  of  my  ultra-terrestrial  life,  , 
for  I  was  now  familiarised  with  the  astonishing 
effects  of  the  laws  of  light ;  I  was  henceforth 
prepared  for  every  new  surprise.  I  had  some 
doubts  of  the  fact,  in  consequence  of  certain 
details  that  I  have  not  given  you  to  avoid 
disturbing  the  unity  of  my  recital  or  breaking 
the  thread  of  my  narrative,  but  which  were 
nevertheless  incomparably  inore  extraordinary 
than  the  general  succession  of  events. 

Qu^RENs.  But  if  it  was  really  the  Earth, 
how  comes  it  that  the  astronomical  calcula- 
tions you  made  in  order  to  recognise  her  in  the 
constellation  of  the  Altar,  indicated,  as  you  have 
pointed  out,  that  the  world  you  were  examining 
was  neither  the  Earth  nor  a  star  of  the  Altar  } 
87 


LUMEN 

Events  LuMEN.  The   fact    is,    that    even    that   con- 

stellation had  itself  changed  in  consequence  of 
my  voyage  in  space.     In  place  of  the  stars  of 

Sidereal       the  third  magnitude,  a,  y,  and  ^  (alpha,  gamma, 

perspective.        .xi  pioi  -•       n    r^ 

zeta),  and  stars  oi  the  lourth  magnitude,  p,  o, 

and  9  (beta,  delta,  theta),  which  constitute 
that  figure  as  seen  from  the  Earth,  my  distance 
towards  the  nebulae  had  reduced  those  stars 
to  little  imperceptible  points.  It  had  placed 
other  brilliant  stars  there,  which  were  no  doubt 
a  (alpha)  and  fS  (beta)  of  Auriga,  6,  i,  rj  (theta, 
iota,  eta),  and  perhaps  even  e  (epsilon)  of  the 
same  constellation — stars  diametrically  opposite 
to  the  preceding  when  seen  from  the  Earth, 
but  which  were  necessarily  interposed  there 
when  I  had  passed  them  by.  The  celestial 
perspective  had  already  changed,  and  it  had 
become,  in  truth,  almost  impossible  to  deter- 
mine the  position  of  our  Sun. 

QujErens.    I   had  not   thought   of  this   in- 
evitable change   of  perspective   on  the   other 
It  was  really  side  of  Capella ;  and  so  it  was  really  the  Earth 

the  Earth 

thatLiimen  that  you   saw,   and   therefore   its   history   was 

unrolled  before  you  in  an  inverse  order — you 

saw  ancient  events  taking  place  ajlcr  modern 

events.     By  what  new  process  has  light  thus 

enabled  you   to  ascend    the   stream   of  time .'' 

Furthermore,  dear  Lumen,  you  have  informed 
88 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

me  that  you  have  observed  some  curious  par- 
ticulars relative  to  the  Earth  itself.  I  am 
wishful  to  ask  you  some  special  questions  on 
these  details.  I  shall  listen,  then,  with  in- 
terest to  the  extraordinary  history  which  ought 
to  complete  this  recital,  persuaded,  as  before, 
that  it  will  fully  reward  my  curiosity. 


n 

Lumen.  The  first  circumstance  is  connected  Historyread 
with  the  battle  of  Waterloo. 

Qu^ERENs.  No  one  remembers  that  catas- 
trophe better  than  I  do.  I  received  a  ball  in 
my  shoulder  there,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Mont  Saint-Jean,  and  a  sabre-cut  on  my  right 
hand  from  one  of  Bluchers  blackguards. 

Lumen.  Well,  my  old  comrade,  in  taking 
part  in  this  battle  again,  I  found  it  quite  dif- 
ferent from  what  it  was  in  the  past,  as  you 
may  judge  from  what  I  will  relate  to  you. 
When  I  had  recognised  the  field  of  Waterloo, 
to  the  south  of  Brussels,  I  distinguished  first 
a  considerable  number  of  dead  bodies  lying  on 
the  ground  indiscriminately.  Far  off,  through 
the  mist,  I  perceived  Napoleon  walking  back- 
wards, holding  his  horse  by  the  bridle.  The 
officers  who  accompanied  him  were  marching 
89 


LUMEN 

backwards  also.  The  cannon  began  to  boom, 
and  from  time  to  time  I  saw  the  lurid  gleam 
of  their  flashes.  When  my  sight  was  suffi- 
ciently habituated  to  the  scene,  I  perceived 
some  soldiers  coming  to  life  out  of  the  eternal 
night,  and  by  a  single  effort  standing  up. 
Group  after  group,  a  considerable  number, 
were  thus  resuscitated.  The  dead  horses  re- 
vived like  the  dead  cavaliers,  and  the  latter 
remounted  them.  As  soon  as  two  or  three 
thousand  men  had  returned  to  life,  I  saw  them 
form  unconsciously  in  line  of  battle.  The  two 
armies  took  their  places  fronting  one  another, 
and  began  to  fight  desperately  with  a  fury 
that  one  might  have  taken  for  despair.  As 
the  combat  deepened  on  both  sides,  the  soldiers 
came  to  life  more  rapidly.  French,  English, 
Prussians,  Germans,  Hanoverians,  Belgians — 
grey  coats,  blue  uniforms,  red  tunics,  green, 
white — arose  from  the  field  of  the  dead  and 
fought.  In  the  centre  of  the  French  army  I 
espied  the  Emperor,  a  battalion  in  square  sur- 
rounded him ;  the  Imperial  Guard  was  resus- 
citated. Their  immense  battalions  advanced 
from  the  two  camps  and  engaged  in  a  fierce 
onslaught ;  from  the  left  and  from  the  right, 
squadrons  advanced.     The  white  manes  of  the 

white  horses  floated  in  the  wind.     I    remem- 
90 


REFLUUM  TEMPO RIS 

bered  the  strange  picture  by  Raffet,  and  the 
spectral  epigram  of  the  German  poet  Sedlitz  : — 

"  La  caisse  sonne^  etrange, 
Fortement  elle  retentit. 
Dans  leur  fosse  ressuscitent 
Les  vieux  soldats  peris." 

And  this  other  : — 

"  C'est  la  grande  revue, 
Qu'a  I'heure  de  minuit 
Aux  Champs-filysees 
Tient  Cesar  decede." 

It  was  really  Waterloo,  but  a  Waterloo  be-  Waterloo 
yond  the  tomb,  for  the  combatants  were  tomb. 
raised  from  the  dead.  Besides,  in  this  sin- 
gular apparition  they  marched  backwards  one 
against  the  other.  Such  a  battle  had  a  magi- 
cal effect,  and  impressed  me  more  forcibly, 
because  I  foresaw  the  event  itself,  and  this 
event  was  strangely  transformed  in  its  counter- 
part image.  Not  less  singular  was  the  fact, 
that  the  longer  they  fought,  the  more  the 
number  of  combatants  increased ;  at  each 
gap  made  by  the  cannon  in  the  serried  ranks 
a  group  of  resuscitated  dead  filled  up  the 
gaps  immediately.  When  the  belligerents  had 
spent  the  whole  day  in  tearing  one  another 
to  pieces  with  grape-shot,  with  cannons  and 
91 


LUMEN 

bullets,  with  bayonets,  sabres,  and  swords — 
when  the  great  battle  was  over,  there  was 
not  a  single  person  killed,  no  one  was  even 
wounded ;  even  uniforms  that  before  it  were 
torn  and  in  disorder  were  in  good  condition, 
the  men  were  safe  and  sound,  and  the  ranks 
in  correct  form.  The  two  armies  slowly  with- 
drew from  one  another,  as  if  the  heat  of  the 
battle  and  all  its  fury  had  no  other  object 
than  the  restoration  to  life,  amid  the  smoke 
of  the  combat,  of  the  two  hundred  thousand 
corpses  whicli  had  lain  on  the  field  a  few 
hours  before.  What  an  exemplary  and  de- 
sirable battle  it  was  ! 

Assuredly  it  was  the  most  singular  of  mili- 
tary episodes,  and  the  moral  aspect  of  it  far 
surpassed  the  physical,  when  I  found  that  this 
battle  resulted  not  in  the  defeat  of  Napo- 
Reascend-  leon,  but  in  placing  him  upon  the  throne.  In- 
stead of  losing  the  battle,  it  was  the  Emperor 
who  gained  it;  instead  of  a  prisoner,  he  be- 
came a  sovereign.  Waterloo  was  an  ISth 
Brumaire  !  .  .  . 

QujERENs.  Dear  Lumen,  I  do  not  half  under- 
stand this  new  effect  of  the  laws  of  light.  If 
you  have  discovered  it,  I  shall  be  grateful  to 
you  if  you  will  give  me  an  explanation  of  it. 

Lumen.  I  have  helped  you  to  divine  it  by 
92 


ing  the 
agen. 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

telling   you  that  I  removed  from  the   Earth 
with  a  greater  velocity  than  that  of  light. 

QuiERENS.  But  tell  me,  I  pray  you,  how- 
does  this  retrogression  in  space  enable  you  to 
see  events  in  an  order  inverse  to  that  in  which 
they  took  place  ? 

Lumen.  The  theory  is  very  simple.  Suppose 
you  set  out  from  the  Earth  with  the  velocity 
exactly  eqiial  to  that  of  light,  you  would  always 
have  with  you  the  aspect  that  the  Earth  as- 
sumed at  the  moment  you  set  out,  since  you 
would  be  receding  from  the  globe  with  a 
swiftness  precisely  equal  to  that  which  bore 
this  very  aspect  into  space.  Thus,  even  if 
you  voyaged  for  a  thousand  years  or  a  hundred 
thousand  years,  this  aspect  Avould  accompany 
you  always  like  a  photograph  which  did  not 
grow  old ;  whilst  the  original  is  made  old  by 
the  years  that  elapse. 

QUiERENS.  I  understood  this  fact  already 
in  our  first  conversation. 

Lumen.  Well,  suppose  now  that  you  remove 
from  the  Earth  with  a  velocity  superior  to  that 
of  light,  what  will  happen  ?  You  will  find 
again,  as  fast  as  you  advance  into  space,  the  Retrogres- 
rays  that  set  out  before  you,  that  is  to  say  the  pictures. 
successive  photographs  which,  from  second  to 
second,  from  instant  to  instant,  project  their 
93 


LUMEN 

rays  into  space.  If,  for  example^  you  set  out 
in  1867  with  the  velocity  equal  to  that  of 
light,  you  would  retain  for  ever  the  year  1867 
in  sight.  If  you  went  more  quickly,  you  would 
find  before  you  the  rays  that  had  set  out  in 
former  years,  and  which  bore  upon  them  the 
photographs  of  those  years.  In  order  further 
to  illustrate  this  fact,  reflect,  I  pray  you,  on 
the  many  luminous  rays  that  have  set  out 
from  the  Earth  in  different  epochs.  Let  us 
suppose  the  first  to  be  at  some  instant  of  the 
1st  January  1867.  At  the  rate  of  300,000 
kilometres  a  second,  it  has,  at  the  moment  in 
which  I  am  speaking  to  you,  already  passed 
a  portion  of  space  from  the  instant  of  its  de- 
parture till  it  reached  a  certain  distance  which 
I  shall  express  by  the  letter  A.  Let  us  now 
suppose  that  a  second  ray  sets  out  from  the 
Earth  a  hundred  years  before,  on  the  1st 
January  1 767  ;  it  is  a  hundred  years  in  advance 
of  the  first,  and  is  found  at  a  still  greater 
distance — a  distance  that  I  shall  express  by 
the  letter  B.  A  third  ray  which  I  shall  in 
like  manner  suppose  on  the  1st  January  l667, 
is  still  further  off  by  a  length  equal  to  the 
distance  that  the  light  would  travel  in  a 
hundred  years.  I  call  the  place  where  this 
third  ray  reaches,  C.  Then  a  fourth,  a  fifth,  a 
94 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

sixth,  on  respectively  the  1st  January  1567, 
1467,  1367,  &c.,  are  posted  at  equal  distances 
D,  E,  F,  penetrating  more  and  more  into  the 
infinite. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  series  of  photographs, 
taken  on  the  same  line,  from  post  to  post  in 
space.  Now,  the  mind  which  travels  on  in 
passing  successively  by  the  points  A,  B,  C, 
D,  E,  F,  can  retrace  successively  the  secular 
history  of  the  Earth  in  those  epochs. 

QuiERENs.  Master,  at  what  distance  are  these 
photographs  from  one  another  ? 

Lumen.  The  calculation  is  very  easy.  The 
interval  which  separates  them  is  of  necessity 
that  which  light  travels  in  a  hundred  years. 
Now,  at  the  rate  of  75,000  leagues  per  second, 
you  see  at  once  that  it  travels  4,500,000 
leagues  in  a  minute,  270,000,000  leagues  in 
an  hour,  6,480,800,000  leagues  in  a  day, 
2,366,820,000,000  in  a  year,  allowing  for  leap- 
years  ;  consequently,  the  result  would  be  that 
the  interval  between  two  points  of  departure 
at  the  distance  of  a  century  from  one  another, 
is  nearly  236  billions  682  thousand  millions 
of  leagues.  Here,  then,  I  say  we  have  a 
series  of  terrestrial  photographs,  imprinted  in 
space,  at  corresponding  distances,  one  after 
another.  Let  us  now  suppose  that  between 
95 


LUMEN 


Photo- 
graphs of 
the  life  on 
Earth  im- 
printed ill 
space. 


Psychical 
optics. 


each  of  these  centennial  pictures  we  should  find 
annual  pictures,  between  each  of  which  the 
distance  is  preserved  in  accordance  with  the 
time  that  light  travels  in  a  year,  which  I  have 
just  given  you  ;  then  between  each  of  the 
annual  pictures  we  have  those  of  every  day, 
and  as  each  day  contains  the  photographs  of 
each  hour,  every  hour  the  photographs  of  its 
minutes,  and  every  minute  of  its  seconds,  all 
succeeding  one  another,  according  to  their 
respective  distances  apart — we  shall  have  in 
a  ray  of  light,  or  rather  in  a  jet  of  light, 
composed  of  a  series  of  distinct  pictures  in 
juxtaposition,  the  aerial  register  of  the  history 
of  the  Earth, 

When  the  spirit  travels  in  this  ethereal  ray 
of  pictures  with  a  swiftness  greater  than  that 
of  light,  it  sees  in  succession,  backwards,  the 
ancient  pictures.  When  it  arrives  at  the  dis- 
tance at  which  the  aspect  of  events  that  set 
out  in  1767  is  to  be  seen,  it  has  already  re- 
traced a  hundred  years  of  terrestrial  history. 
When  it  reaches  the  point  where  the  aspect 
of  1667  has  arrived,  it  retraces  two  centuries. 
When  it  attains  to  the  photograph  of  1567, 
it  has  seen,  again,  three  centuries,  and  so  on 
successively.     I  told  you  in  the  beginning  that 

I  directed  my  course  toward  a  group  of  stars 
96 


REFLUUM  TEMPORIS 

situated  at  the  left  of  Capella.  This  group 
proved  to  be  at  an  incomparably  greater  dis- 
tance than  that  star,  although  from  the  Earth 
it  appeared  to  be  close  beside  it,  because  the 
two  visual  rays  are  near  one  another.  This 
apparent  proximity  is  solely  due  to  the  per- 
spective. In  order  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the 
remoteness  of  this  far-off  universe,  I  may  tell 
you  that  it  is  not  less  vast  in  size  than  the 
Milky  Way,  One  may  then  ask  to  what  dis- 
tance should  the  Milky  Way  be  transported 
to  reduce  it  to  the  apparent  size  of  this 
nebula.  My  learned  friend  Arago  made  this 
calculation,  of  which  you  must  be  aware,  as 
he  repeated  it  every  year  in  his  course  of 
lectures  at  the  Observatory,  that  have  been 
published  since  his  death.  It  would  be  neces- 
sary to  suppose  the  Milky  Way  to  be  trans- 
ported to  a  distance  equal  to  334>  times  its 
own  length.  Now,  as  light  takes  15,000  years 
to  traverse  the  Milky  Way  from  one  end  to 
another,  it  follows  that  it  cannot  take  less 
than  334  times  15,000  years,  that  is  to  say, 
less  than  5,000,000  years,  in  coming  from 
thence.  I  have  ascended  a  ray  of  light  from 
the  Earth  to  these  remote  regions,  and  if  my 
spiritual  sight  had  been  more  pei-fect,  I  should 

have  been  able   to   distinguish  not   only  the 
Q7  o 


LUMEN 

retrogression  of  history  for  10,000  years  or 
100,000  years,  but  even  for  5,000,000  years. 

QuiERENs.  Can  the  mind,  then,  by  its  powers 
alone,  cross  in  this  way  the  immeasurable  spaces 
of  the  heavens  ? 

Lumen.  Not  by  its  own  power  alone,  but  by 
making  use  of  the  forces  of  nature.  Attrac- 
tion is  one  of  these  forces.  It  is  transmitted 
with  a  velocity  incomparably  superior  to  that 
of  light,  and  the  most  rigorously  exact  astro- 
nomical calculations  are  obliged  to  consider 
this  transmission  as  almost  instantaneous.  I 
will  add  that  if  I  have  been  able  to  perceive 
events  at  such  distances,  it  is  not  by  the  ap- 
prehension of  a  physical  sense  that  I  know 
them,  but  by  a  process  incomparably  more 
subtle,  which  belongs  to  the  psychic  order. 
The  movements  of  the  ether,  which  constitute 
light,  are  not  luminous  by  themselves,  as  you 
know.  The  eye  is  not  necessary  in  order  to 
perceive  them.  A  soul  vibrating  under  their 
influence  perceives  them  as  well,  and  often 
incomparably  better  than  an  organic  optical 
apparatus.  This  being  psychical  optics.  For 
example,  attraction  crosses  instantaneously 
the  148,000,000  of  kilometres  that  separate 
the  Earth  from  the  Sun,  whilst  light  occupies 

493  seconds  in  this  passage. 
98 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

Qu^RENs.  What  length  of  time  did  your 
voyage  to  that  remote  universe  occupy  ? 

Lumen.  Have  I  not  told  you  that  time  does 
not  exist  outside  the  movements  of  the  Earth  ? 
Whether  I  employed  a  year  or  an  hour,  it 
would  have  been  exactly  the  same  period  in 
infinity. 

QujErens.  I  have  thought  it  over,  and 
the  physical  difficulties  seem  to  me  enor- 
mous. Permit  me  now  to  submit  to  you  a 
strange  thought  that  has  just  come  into  my 
head. 

Lumen.  It  is  to  hear  your  reflections  that  I 
give  you  this  narrative. 

Qu^rens.  I  want  to  ask  you  if  the  same 
inversion  would  take  place  with  the  hear- 
ing as  well  as  the  sight?  If  you  can  see 
an  event  backwards  from  its  real  occur- 
rence, can  you  also  hear  a  discourse  back- 
wards, beginning  at  the  end  .''  This  is 
perhaps  a  daring  question,  and  apparently 
ridiculous,  but  in  paradoxes  where  can  one 
stop  ? 

Lumen.  The  paradox  is  only  apparent.  The  Light  and 
laws  of  sound  are  essentially  different  from  the 
laws  of  light.  Sound  travels  only  at  the  rate 
of  340  metres  a  second,  and  its  effects  have 
absolutely  nothing  in  common  with  those  of 
99 


LUMEN 

light.  Nevertheless  it  is  evident  that  if  we 
were  to  advance  into  the  air  with  a  velocity 
superior  to  that  of  sounds  we  should  hear  in- 
versely the  sounds  that  left  the  lips  of  a  speaker. 
If,  for  instance,  some  one  were  to  recite  an 
alexandrine,  an  auditor  in  moving  with  the 
aforesaid  velocity,  starting  at  the  moment  when 
he  heard  the  last  foot  of  the  line,  would  find 
successively  the  eleven  other  feet  which  had 
been  uttered  before,  and  would  thus  hear  the 
alexandrine  backwards. 

As  to  the  theoiy  itself,  it  suggests  a  curious 
reflection,  that  nature  might  have  caused  sound 
to  travel,  not  at  the  rate  of  340  metres  a  second, 
and  that  its  velocity,  which  depends  on  the 
density  and  the  elasticity  of  the  air,  might 
have  been  very  much  less.  Why,  for  instance, 
might  it  not  have  been  transmitted  at  the  rate 
of  only  a  few  centimetres  a  second  .''  Now  see 
what  would  be  the  result  if  this  were  the  case. 
Men  would  not  be  able  to  speak  to  one  another 
when  walking  together.  Let  two  friends  be 
conversing,  and  suppose  one  takes  a  step  or 
two  in  advance,  or  goes  on,  say  the  distance  of 
a  metre ;  now,  if  sound  were  to  take  many 
seconds  to  cross  this  metre,  the  consequence 
would  be  that,  instead  of  hearing  the  phrases 

spoken  in  their  right  order  by  his  friend,  the 
100 


REFLUUM   TEMPO RIS 

foremost  walker  would  hear  in  an  inverse  order 
the  sounds  conveying  the  anterior  phrases.  In 
that  case  we  could  not  speak  whilst  walking, 
and  three-fourths  of  mankind  would  not  be 
able  to  hear  one  another. 

These  remarks,  my  friend,  induce  me  to 
suggest  to  you,  in  this  connection,  for  your 
consideration,  a  subject  well  worthy  of  atten- 
tion, and  which  has  hitherto  received  little 
notice — that  of  the  adaptation  of  the  human 
organism  to  its  terrestrial  environment.  The 
manner  in  which  man  sees,  in  which  he  hears ; 
his  sensations,  his  nervous  system,  his  build, 
his  weight,  his  density,  his  walk,  his  functions 
— in  a  word,  all  his  actions  are  regulated  and 
constituted  by  the  condition  of  your  planet. 
None  of  your  acts  are  absolutely  free  and 
independent.  Man  is  the  obedient,  though 
unconscious,  creature  of  the  organic  forces  of 
the  Earth. 

Undoubtedly  the  human   soul,  not  being  a  Tiie  human 

function  of  the  brain,  and  existing  by   itself,  derived 

enjoys    relative    liberty ;    but    this    liberty    is  ^^tij^^*^ 

limited    by   its    faculties,   its   powers,   and    its 

energies ;    it  is  determined,   according   to  the 

causes  which  decide  it,  at  the  moment  of  the 

birth  of  every  man.     Could  one  know  exactly 

the    faculties    of    his    soul    and    the    eircum- 
101 


LUMEN 

stances  which  were  to  surround  his  life^  one 
could  write  beforehand  that  man's  life  in  all 
its  details.  The  human  organism  is  the  pro- 
duct of  the  planet.  It  is  not  by  a  Divine 
fantasy,  by  a  miracle,  or  by  a  direct  creation 
that  terrestrial  man  is  constituted  such  as  he 
is.  His  form,  his  figure,  his  weight,  his  sense, 
his  whole  oi'ganisation,  are  derived  from  the 
state  or  condition  of  your  planet,  the  atmos- 
phere that  you  breathe,  the  food  that  nourishes 
you,  the  gravity  of  the  surface  of  the  Earth, 
the  density  of  terrestrial  matter,  &c.  The 
human  body  does  not  differ  anatomically  from 
that  of  one  of  the  higher  mammalia,  and  if 
you  go  back  to  the  origin  of  species,  you  will 
find  gradual  transformations  established  by  un- 
impeachable evidence.  The  whole  of  terres- 
trial life,  from  the  mollusc  to  man,  is  the 
development  of  one  single  and  sole  genea- 
logical tree.  The  human  form  has  its  origin 
in  the  animal  form.  Man  is  the  butterfly  de- 
veloped from  the  chrysalis  of  the  palaeonto- 
logical  ages.  From  this  fact  the  consequence 
Organic  life  results  that  on  other  worlds  organic  life  is 
its  habitat  different  from  what  it  is  here,  and  that  their 
pLnet  humanities,  which,  like  our  own,  are  the  result 
of   forces    in   activity    on    each    planet,    differ 

absolutely  in  their  forms  from  that  of  terres- 
102 


REFLUUM   TEMPORIS 

trial  humanity.  For  example,  on  the  worlds 
where  they  do  not  eat,  the  digestive  apparatus 
and  the  intestines  do  not  exist.  On  the  worlds 
which  are  very  highly  electric,  the  beings  in- 
habiting them  are  gifted  with  an  electric  sense. 
On  others,  sight  is  adapted  for  the  ultra-violet 
rays,  and  the  eyes  have  nothing  in  common 
with  your  eyes  ;  they  do  not  see  what  you 
see,  and  they  see  what  you  cannot  see.  The 
organs  are  adapted  to  the  functions  they  have 
to  fulfil. 

QuiERENs.  We  are  not,  then,  the  absolute 
type  of  creation  ?  Creation  itself  is,  it  appears, 
a  perpetual  development  of  forces  in  activity. 

Lumen.  The  soul  itself  is  subject  to  a  similar  The  bouI 
law.  There  are  as  many  divei'sities  of  souls  as 
of  bodies.  In  order  that  the  soul  should  exist 
as  an  independent  being  having  a  conscious- 
ness of  itself,  in  order  that  it  should  preserve 
the  recollection  of  its  identity  and  be  qualified 
for  immortality,  it  is  necessary  that  even  in 
this  life  it  should  know  that  it  really  exists. 
Otherwise  it  is  no  more  advanced  the  day 
after  death  than  the  day  before  death,  and 
falls  as  an  insensible  breath  into  the  blind 
cosmos,  neither  more  nor  less  than  any  other 
centre   of  unconscious   force.      Many   men  on 

the  Earth  boast  that  they  do  not  believe  in 
103 


LUMEN 

anything  but  matter,  without  knowing  what 
they  say,  since  they  do  not  know  what  matter 
is.  These  last,  and  those,  stiU  more  numerous, 
who  do  not  think  at  all,  are  not  immortal,  since 
they  have  no  consciousness  of  their  existence. 
The  spirits  who  live  really  the  spiritual  life 
are  the  only  ones  who  are  fitted  for  immor- 
tality. 

QujErens.  Are  there  many  of  them  ? 

Lumen.  My  friend,  behold  the  dawn  of  morn- 
ing which  invites  me  anew  to  return  into  the 
depths  of  space,  peopled  with  things  unknown 
on  Earth,  that  fruitful  mine  in  which  spirits 
find  again  the  wrecks  of  past  existences,  the 
secrets  of  many  mysteries,  the  ruins  of  disin- 
tegrated worlds,  and  the  genesis  of  future 
worlds.  And  for  the  rest,  it  would  be  super- 
fluous to  lengthen  out  this  recital  with  useless 
details.  My  object  has  been  to  show  you  that, 
in  order  to  have  the  spectacle  of  a  world  and 
of  a  system  exactly  opposite  to  yours,  all  that 
is  needed  is  to  recede  from  the  Earth  with  a 
velocity  greater  than  that  of  light.  In  this 
flight  of  the  soul  towards  the  inaccessible 
horizons  of  the  infinite,  one  retraces  the 
luminous  rays  reflected  by  the  Earth  and  by 
the  other  planets  for  millions  and  myriads  of 

years,  and  while  observing  the  planets  at  this  vast 
]04 


REFLUUM  TEMPORIS 

distance  one  can  be  present  in  vision  at  the  events 
of  their  past  history.  Thus  one  ascends  the 
stream  of  time  to  its  source.  Such  a  faculty 
ought  to  illuminate  for  you  the  regions  of 
eternity  with  a  new  light.  If,  as  I  hope,  you 
admit  the  scientific  value  of  my  expositions 
of  these  ultra-terrestrial  studies,  I  look  for- 
ward to  unfolding  to  you  before  long  their 
metaphysical  consequences. 


105 


THIRD    CONVERSATION 

HOMO    HOMUNCULUS 

QuiERENs.  I  have  listened  to  you  with  interest, 
Lumen,  without,  I  own,  being  entirely  con- 
vinced that  all  you  have  told  me  is  actually 
real.  Indeed  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  it 
is  possible  to  see  with  absolute  certainty  all 
the  things  of  which  you  speak.  When,  for 
Clouds  no     instance,  there  are  clouds  across  your  field  of 

impediment     •  .  i        i  i.    j. 

to  vision  View,  you  cannot  see  clearly  what  passes  on 
the  Earth.  The  same  objection  obtains  for  the 
interior  of  houses. 

Lumen.  You  are  mistaken,  my  friend.  The 
undulations  of  ether  pass  through  obstacles 
that  you  would  believe  impenetrable.  Clouds 
are  formed  of  molecules  between  which  rays  of 
light  frequently  pass.  In  the  contrary  case, 
there  are  here  and  there  vistas  or  gaps,  across 
which  one  can  only  see  obliquely.  The  case 
is  veiy  rare  when  nothing  can  be  distinguished. 

Light  a        Besides,  light  is  not  what  it  appears  to  be  ;  it 

vibration  n        ^ 

of  ether.       is  a  Vibration  or  ether,  and  there  are  other 

106 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

ways  of  seeing  than  by  means  of  the  retina 
and  the  optic  nerve. 

The  vibrations  of  ether  are  perceptible  to 
senses  other  than  those  you  possess.  There- 
fore, if  this  be  your  sole  objection,  it  is,  I 
must  say,  far  from  being  an  insurmountable 
one. 

QuiERENS.  You  have  a  special  faculty  for 
resolving  all  doubts.  Perhaps  this  is  one  of  the 
gifts  granted  to  spiritual  beings.  I  have  been 
obliged  successively  to  admit,  that  you  have 
been  transported  to  Capella  with  a  swiftness 
exceeding  that  of  light ;  that  you  reached 
another  world  as  a  spirit ;  that  your  soul  is 
liberated  from  the  flesh  ;  that  your  ultra-earthly 
perception  is  able  to  distinguish  from  that 
height  all  that  passes  here ;  that  you  can  ad- 
vance or  recede  in  space  according  to  your 
fancy  ;  and  lastly,  that  the  clouds  themselves  are 
no  obstacles  to  your  clearly  seeing  the  surface 
of  our  globe.  It  must  be  owned  that  these 
are  grave  difficulties  indeed. 

Lumen.  You  are  very  material,  my  old  friend  ! 

Should  you  be  very  surprised  if  I  undertook  to 

prove  to  you  that   all    these   difficulties  exist 

only   in    name,    and    that    all    the   objections 

which  oppose  themselves  to  your  conception 

of  phenomena  are  the  effects  of  ignorance  ? 
107 


LUMEN 

What  should  you  think  if  I  affirmed  that  no 

one  has  a  single  true  idea  of  what  takes  place 

upon  the  Earth,  and  that  man  utterly  fails  to 

understand  nature  ? 

QuiERENs.  In  the  name  of  all  the  indisputable 

truths  of  modern  science,  I  should  dare  to  think 

that  you  were  trying  to  impose  upon  me. 

Lumen.  God  forbid  !    Listen  to  me^  my  friend. 

The   marvellous   discoveries   of  contemporary 

science  ought  to  enlai-ge  the  sphere  of  your 

conceptions.     You  have  just  discovered  spectral 

The  marvels  analysis  !     By  this  methodic  examination  of  a 

analysis.       simple  ray  of  light  shot  from  a  far-oif  star,  you 

learn  what  are  the  elements  which   compose 

this  inaccessible  star  and  feed  its  brilliancy. 

This  knowledge,  my  brother,  is  of  more  value 

than  all  the  conquests  of  Alexander,  of  Caesar, 

and  of  Napoleon,  than  all  the  discoveries  of 

Ptolemy,  of  Columbus,  of  Gutenberg,  than  all 

the  books  of  Moses  and  of  Confucius.     Only 

think,  ti-illions  of  leagues  span  the  abyss  which 

separates  us  from  Sirius,  from  Arcturus,  from 

Vega,  from  Capella,  from   Castor  and   Pollux, 

and  it  is  now  possible  to  analyse  the  substances 

which  constitute  these  suns,  just  as  accurately 

as  if  you  could  take  them  in  your  hand  and 

submit  them  to  the  crucible  of  the  laboratory  ! 

How  then  can  you  refuse  to  admit  that,  by 
108 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

processes  which  are  unknown  to  you,  the  soul's 
sight  can  be  sufficiently  piercing  to  see  clearly  Piercing 
a  bright  far-off"  world,  and  to  distinguish  even  ^j^g  soui's 
its  smallest  details  ?     Does  not  the  telegraph  °'°'^*" 
carry  in  an  inappreciable  moment  your  thought 
from  Europe  to  America  through  the  depths  of 
the  ocean  ?     Cannot  two  people  converse  in  a 
low  voice  at  a  distance  of  thousands  of  leagues, 
and  still  you  hesitate  to  admit  the  truth  of  ray 
narrations,  because  you  do  not  altogether  com- 
prehend them  ?     But  can  you  explain  how  the 
telegraphic  message  is  transmitted  ?     No,  you 
cannot.      Cease  then  to  retain  doubts  which 
have  not  even  the  merit  of  being  scientific. 

Qu^RENs.  My  objections,  learned  master, 
have  not  any  other  end  in  view  than  to  elicit 
fresh  light  upon  the  subject.  I  am  far  from 
denying  the  truth  of  all  you  tell  me,  and  I  but 
seek  to  form  a  rational  and  exact  idea  of  it. 

Lumen.  Be  assured,  my  friend,  I  do  not  take 
any  offence  at  your  objections.     My  only  desire 
is  to  develop  and  enlarge  the  sphere  of  your 
conceptions.     I  can  at  this  very  instant  open 
your  eyes  to  see  the  utter  inadequacy  of  your  The  inade- 
terrestrial  faculties,  and   the  fatal  poverty  oftheeanliiy 
positive  science  itself,  by  inviting  you  to  reflect  senses. 
that  the  causes  of  your  impressions  are  solely 

modes  of  motion,   and   that   what  is   proudly 
109 


tions  of  the 
senses. 


LUMEN 

termed  science  is  only  a  very  limited  organic 
perception. 
iTieiimita-  Light  by  which  your  eyes  see — sound  by 
which  your  ears  hear — are  different  forms  of 
motion  by  which  you  are  impressed;  odours, 
flavours,  &c.,  are  emanations  which  strike  upon 
your  olfactory  nerve  or  touch  your  palate ; 
these  are  solely  vibratory  motions  which  are 
transmitted  to  your  brain.  You  can  only  ap- 
preciate a  few  of  these  movements  through 
the  senses  you  possess,  principally  those  of 
sight  and  hearing.  You,  in  your  simplicity, 
believe  that  you  see  and  hear  nature  ?  Nothing 
of  the  kind.  All  you  do  is  to  receive  some  of 
the  movements  in  activity  upon  your  sublunary 
atom.  That  is  all.  Beyond  the  impressions  you 
receive  there  are  an  infinitely  greater  number 
unperceived  by  you. 

QuiERENS.  Pardon,  master,  but  this  new 
aspect  of  nature  is  not  sufficiently  clear  for  me 
to  understand  it.     Would  you  .   .  . 

Lumen.  This  aspect  is  indeed  new  to  j'ou, 
but  attentive  reflection  will  enable  you  to 
grasp  it.  Sound  is  formed  by  vibrations  in 
the  air  which  strike  upon  the  membrane  of 
the  tympanum  and  give  you  the  impression 
of    various    tones.      Man    does    not    hear   all 

sounds.      When    the    vibrations    are    too    slow 
110 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

(below  forty  a  second)^  the  sound  is  too  low ;  The  extent 

1       .  ,TTi  1  .1  ofthegamut 

your  ear  cannot  catch  it.  When  the  vibra-  ,evibrationg 
tions  are  too  rapid  (above  36,000  a  second),  "*  '"'""'• 
the  sound  is  too  sharp  ;  your  ear  cannot  receive 
it.  Above  and  below  these  two  limits,  there- 
fore, human  beings  do  not  perceive  them. 
These  vibrations  exist,  however,  and  are  per- 
ceived by  creatures  of  other  kinds,  as,  for 
example,  certain  insects.  The  same  rules 
apply  to  light.  The  different  aspects  of  light, 
the  shades  and  colours  of  objects,  are  equally 
due  to  the  vibrations  which  strike  upon  the 
optic  nerve  and  give  you  the  impression  of 
the  different  degrees  of  intensity  in  light. 
Man  does  not  by  any  means  see  all  that  is 
visible.  When  the  vibrations  are  too  slow 
(under  458  billions  a  second),  light  is  too 
feeble;  your  eye  sees  nothing.  When  the 
vibrations  are  too  rapid  (over  727  billions  a  The  extent 
second),  light  outruns  your  organic  faculty  oftjonsof 
perception  and  is  invisible  to  you.  Above  and  '^^ 
below  these  two  limits  the  vibrations  of  ether 
still  exist,  and  are  perceived  by  other  beings. 
You  do  not  know  therefore,  nor  can  you 
receive,  any  impressions  except  those  that  can 
be  made  to  vibrate  upon  the  two  chords  of 
your  organic  lyre,  called  respectively  the  optic 

nerve  and  the  auditory  nerve. 
Ill 


LUMEN 

Imagine  for  one  instant  the  extent  of  all 
the  sights  and  sounds  which  are  not  per- 
ceptible to  3'ou.  All  the  undulatory  move- 
ments that  exist  in  the  universe  between  the 
figures  of  36,000  and  those  represented  by 
458,000,000,000,000  in  the  same  unity  of 
time,  can  neither  be  heard  nor  be  seen  by 
you,  and  remain  utterly  unknown  to  you. 

Try  to  measure  that  distance!  Contemporary 
science  is  beginning  to  penetrate  a  little  into 
this  invisible  Avorld,  and  you  know  that  it  has 
just  calculated  the  vibrations  below  4-58  billions 
(these  are  the  caloric  invisible  rays)  and  the 
vibrations  above  727  billions  (these  are  the 
chemical  rays,  also  equally  invisible  to  the 
human  eye).  Scientific  methods  can  enlarge 
the  sphere  of  the  perceptions  but  a  little; 
you  remain  isolated  in  the  midst  of  infini- 
tude. Moreover,  an  endless  number  of  other 
vibrations  exist  in  nature  which  have  no  corre- 
spondence with  your  organisation,  and  therefore 
cannot  be  received  by  you,  co7isequently  you 
remain  for  ever  utterly  ignorant  of  them.  Did 
you  possess  other  strings  to  your  lyre — ten,  a 
hundred,  a  thousand — the  harmony  of  nature 
could  more  completely  translate  itself  to  you, 
each  of  the   myriad   vibrations   according   to 

their  kind.     You  would  perceive  a  number  of 
112 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

facts  which  are  certainly  passing  around  you,  Man  deaf  to 

-  .  the  concert 

whose   very   existence   you  cannot  even  now  of  universal 

guess,  and  in  place  of  two  dominant  notes  you  ^y™°°on*o£ 

would   be   conscious  of  the   grand  concert  of '"^  limita- 

tions. 
harmonies  everywhere  about  you. 

But  although  thus  ignorant,  you  are  uncon- 
scious of  it,  because  all  around  you  are  equally 
ignorant,  and  therefore  it  is  impossible  to  com- 
pare your  limited  faculties  with  those  of  beings 
much  more  highly  organised. 

The  senses  you  do  possess  suffice,  however, 
to  indicate  the  existence  of  other  senses,  not 
only  more  powerful,  but  of  a  totally  different 
order.  By  the  sense  of  touch,  for  example, 
you  can,  it  is  true,  feel  the  sensation  of  heat; 
but  it  is  easy  to  conceive  the  existence  of  a 
special  sense,  analogous  to  that  by  which  light 
reveals  to  you  the  aspect  of  exterior  objects, 
and  which  would  render  man  capable  of  judg- 
ing of  the  form  and  substance  of  an  object, 
its  interior  structure,  and  other  qualities,  by 
the  action  of  the  caloric  waves  radiating  from  Were  the 
it.  The  same  reasoning  would  hold  good  on  bined  spec- 
the  subject  of  electricity.      You  could  equally  ^^°(i^'j.°ie. 

well  conceive  the  existence  of  a  sense,  endowing  scope,  it 

would  see 

the  eye  with  the  powers  of  a  spectroscope  and  the  chemi- 

telescope  in  one,  thus  enabling  it  to  see  the  coniposin^c 

cy^e7HJCrt/ elements,  of  which  bodies  are  composed.    *^  '*'*' 
113  H 


LUMEN 

Thus  already^  from  a  scientific  point  of  view^ 
you  have  sufficient  ground  for  imagining  modes 
of  perception,  quite  different  from  those  which 
characterise  human  beings.  These  faculties 
exist  in  other  worlds,  and  there  are  endless 
ways  of  perceiving  the  action  of  the  forces 
of  nature. 

QujErens.  Certainly,  master,  I  own  that  as 
you  unfold  these  possibilities  a  new  and  singu- 
lar clearness  enlightens  my  understanding,  and 
your  teachings  appear  to  me  a  true  interpre- 
tation of  the  reality.  I  had  already  dreamed 
that  similar  marvels  might  be  possible,  but  I 
had  not  been  able  to  explain  them,  enveloped 
as  I  still  am  in  my  terrestrial  senses.  One 
Ouiterres-    thing  is  Certain,  we  must  be  lifted  out  of  our 

trial  senses 

are  limited,  earth-bound  limitations  ere  we  are  capable  of 
comprehending,  or  even  of  attempting  to  judge, 
of  the  scope  of  the  universe. 

Thus,  being  endowed  with  only  a  few  limited 
senses,  we  can  but  know  the  facts  that  are  per- 
ceptible to  them.  The  remainder  is  naturally 
unknown.  Can  it  be  that  the  unknown  is  in- 
finitely more  than  the  known  ? 

Lumen.  This  "remainder"  is  immense,  and 
all  you  at  present  know  will  seem  as  nothing 
by  comparison.     Not  only  do  your  senses  not 

perceive   physical  movements — such   as  solar 
114 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

and  terrestrial  electricity  whose  currents  cross  The  ordi- 
in  the  atmosphere,  the  magnetism  of  minerals,  are  insens- 
of    plants,    and    of    beings,   the    affinities    of  ^^^'"  *°  7=^°^ 

^  '  °  •"  physical 

organisms,  &c.,  which  are  invisible  to  you —  movements. 
but  they  perceive  still  less  the  movements 
of  the  moral  world,  its  sympathies  and  anti- 
pathies, its  presentiments,  its  spiritual  attrac- 
tions, &c.  I  only  speak  the  simple  truth 
when  I  say,  that  all  that  you  know,  and  all 
that  you  could  know,  through  the  medium  of 
your  earthly  senses,  is  as  nothing  compared  to 
that  which  is. 

This    truth    is    so    profound    that    it   might  Beings  exist 
well  be  asserted,  that   beings  exist  upon  the  tj^an  our 
Earth  essentially  different  from  you,  possessing  ^^^^^^• 
neither  eyes,  nor  ears,  nor  any  of  your  senses, 
but  endowed  with  other  senses,  and  capable 
of  perceiving  that  which  you  cannot  perceive, 
and  who,  while  living  in   the   same  world  as 
yourself,  know  that  which  you  cannot  know, 
and    form   an    idea   of   nature    completely    at 
variance  with  your  own. 

QuiERENs.    All   this    is   utterly   beyond   my 
comprehension. 

Lumen.   Moreover,  my  earthly  friend,  I  can 

add  most   emphatically   that   the   perceptions 

you  receive,  and  that  constitute  the  bases  of 

your  science,  are  not  even  the  perceptions  of 
115 


LUMEN 

the  reality.  No.  Light,  lucidity,  colours, 
looks,  tones,  noises,  harmonies,  sounds,  per- 
fumes, flavoui's,  apparent  qualities  of  bodies, 
&c.,  are  nothing  hut  forms. 

These  forms  enter  into  your  mind  by  the 
avenue  of  the  eye,  and  the  ear,  by  the  senses 
of  smell,  and  taste,  and  are  represented  to 
you  by  their  appearances,  but  not  even  by 
the  essence  of  the  things  themselves. 

The  real  nature  of  things  entirely  escapes  your 
undei'sianding,  and  you  are  utterly  incapable  of 
comprehending  the  universe. 

Matter  is  Matter  itself  is  not  v/hat  you  believe  it  to 

not  solid.  _i  11111 

be.  lo  speak  absolutely,  there  is  not  any- 
thing that  is  solid;  your  own  body,  a  piece 
of  iron  or  of  granite,  are  not  more  solid  than 
the  air  you  breathe.  All  these  things  are 
composed  of  atoms  which  do  not  touch  each 
other,  and  which  are  in  perpetual  movement. 
The  Earth,  atom  of  the  Heavens,  moves  in 
space  with  a  swiftness  of  643,000  leagues  a 
day ;  but,  in  proportion  to  their  dimensions, 
each  atom  which  constitutes  your  own  body 
and  that  circulates  in  your  blood,  moves  much 
more  quickly.  If  your  vision  were  sufficiently 
powerful  to  see  through  this  stone,  you  would 
no  longer  see  it  thus,  because  your  sight  would 

pass  through  and  beyond  it  .   .  . 
'116 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

But  I  see  by  the  disturbance  of  your  brain, 
and  the  rapid  movements  of  the  fluid  which 
crosses  your  closely-concentrated  lobes,  that 
you  no  longer  understand  my  revelations.  I 
will  not  then  pursue  this  subject  which  I  have 
thus  merely  lightly  touched  ujjon,  with  the  end 
in  view  of  thereby  demonstrating  how  greatly 
you  would  err,  did  you  attach  any  importance  How  man 
to  difficulties  born  of  your  terrestrial  sensations,  tmnkin'^his 
and  to  assure  you  that  neither  you  nor  any  man  limited  scn- 

•  sations  de- 

upon  the  Earth  could  form  even  an  approximate  scribe  those 
idea  of  the  universe.     What  is  earthly  man  but  verse. 
a  mere  pigmy  !    Ah  !  if  you  were  but  acquainted 
with  the  organisms  which  vibrate  upon  Mars  or  The  dif- 
upon  Uranus  ;  if  it  had  but  been  granted  to  you,  organisms 
to  appreciate  the  senses  in  action,  upon  Venus  °"  Mars, 

^^  •>      r  Uranus,  &c. 

and  upon  a  ring  of  Saturn  ;  if  during  centuries 

of  travel  you  had  been  permitted  to  glance  at 

and  observe  the  forms  of  life  in  the  systems  of 

the  double  stars  ;  at  the  sensations  of  sight  in 

the  coloured  suns,  to  glean  the  impressions  of  an 

electric  sense,  of  which  you  can  know  absolutely 

nothing,  in  the  groups  of  multiple  suns  ;  if  a 

suitable  comparison  of  this  ultra-teiTcstrial  state 

had  furnished  you  with  the  elements  of  a  fresh 

knowledge,  you  would  then  have  comprehended 

that  beings  exist — who  can  see,  hear,  feel,  or, 

to  be  more  accurate,  understand  nature  without 
117 


LUMEN 

eyes,  without  ears,  without  sense  of  smell ;  that 

an  incredible  number  of  other  senses  exist  in 

nature,  senses  essentially  different  from  yours ; 

and  that  there  are  in  creation  an  incalculable 

number  of  marvellous  facts  which  it  is  absolutely 

impossible  for  you  to  imagine.     In  this  general 

contemplation  of  the  universe,  my  friend,  one 

The  tie        pcrceives  the  solidarity — the  tie  which  unites 

physi"aUnd  ^^^^  physical  with  the  spiritual  world ;  one  sees 

spiritual       from  a  higher  ground  the  instinctive  strength 

VYorld  »  t>  & 

which  raises  certain  souls,  tried  by  the  coarse- 
ness of  matter  but  purified  by  sacrifice,  towards 
the  higher  regions  of  spiritual  light ;  and  one 
understands  how  immense  is  the  happiness 
reserved  for  those  beings,  who,  even  while  on 
Earth,  have  succeeded  in  gradually  overcoming 
their  lower  nature. 

QuiEUENs.  To  return  to  the  transmission  of 
light  in  space.  Does  not  light  lose  itself  at 
last .''  Does  the  aspect  of  the  Earth  remain 
eternally  visible,  and  never,  on  the  contrary, 
diminish  in  proportion  to  the  square  of  dis- 
tance, thus  becoming  finally  annihilated  ? 
The  word  LuMEN.  Your  expression  "  at  last "  is  without 

end  applied  .  ,  ii  •  j  • 

to  space       meanmg,  because  there  is  no  end  in  space. 
riipainiit;  Light  bccomes  attenuated,  it   is  true,  with 

distance,    the   scenes   become   less  vivid,  but 

nothing  is  lost  entirely.     Any  number,  what^ 
118 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

ever  it  may  be,  perpetually  reduced  by  half,  for 
example,  can  never  become  equal  to  zero.  The 
Earth  is  not  visible  to  all  eyes  at  a  certain 
distance.  Nevertheless  it  still  exists,  even 
though  it  may  not  be  seen  by  all ;  and  only 
spiritual  sight  can  see  it. 

Besides,  the  image  of  a  star,  borne  upon  the 
wings  of  hght,  goes  into  the  unfathomable 
depths  of  the  mysterious  abysses  of  space. 

Vast  regions  exist  in  space  without  stars.  Vast  regions 
regions  decimated  by  time,  whence  worlds  out  stars. 
have  been  successively  removed  by  the  attrac- 
tion of  exterior  suns.  The  image  of  a  star  in 
crossing  these  dark  abysses,  would  be  in  a  con- 
dition analogous  to  that  of  a  person,  or  object, 
that  the  photographer  had  forgotten  and  left  in 
the  camera. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  such  images  en- 
counter in  these  vast  spaces  an  obscure  star 
(celestial  mechanics  state  the  existence  of 
many  such)  in  a  special  condition  whose  surface 
(formed  perhaps  of  iodine,  if  one  is  to  credit 
spectral  analysis)  would  be  sensitised,  and 
capable  of  fixing  upon  itself  the  image  of  this 
far-off  world. 

Thus    terrestrial   events   might   be   printed 
upon  a  dark  globe.     And  if  this  globe  turns 
upon  itself,  like  other  celestial  bodies,  it  would 
119 


LUMEN 

present  successively  its  different  zones  to  the 

terrestrial  image,  and  would  thus  take  a  sort 

of  continuous  photograph  of  successive  events. 

Images  of         Following   moreover,   in   ascending,  or   de- 

this  world's  i        i  v     t 

events  pho-  scendmg,  a  perpendicular  une  to  its  equator, 
Bpfraiiy'^  the  line  where  the  images  were  reproduced 
upon  other    ^yould  no  longer  be  described  in  a  circle,  but 

globes  in  " 

Bpace.  in  a  spiral ;  and  after  the  first  movement  of 

rotation  was  finished,  the  new  images  would 
not  coincide  with  the  old  ones,  nor  super- 
impose them,  but  would  follow  above  and 
below.  The  imagination  could  now  suppose 
that  this  world  is  not  spherical,  but  cylindrical, 
and  thus  see  in  space  an  imperishable  column 
around  which  would  be  engraved  the  great 
events  of  the  world's  history. 

I  have  not  myself  seen  this  realisation.  It 
is  so  short  a  time  smce  I  left  the  Earth,  that 
I  have  barely  done  more  than  glance  super- 
ficially at  these  celestial  marvels.  Before 
long  I  shall  seek  to  verify  this  fact,  and  see 
if  its  reality  does  not  form  a  part  of  the  in- 
finite richness  of  the  astral  creations. 

QuiERENs.  If  the  ray  which  leaves  the  Earth 
is  never  destroyed,  master,  our  actions  are  then 
eternal ? 

Lumen.  Certainly  they  are. 

An   act   once   accomphshed    can    never    be 
120 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

effaced,  and  no  power  can  ever  cause  it  to  be  Actions  car- 
as  if  it  had  never  been.     Say  that  a  crime  isonrayaor'^ 
committed  in   the  heart  of  a  desert  country.  "°^*'" 
The  criminal  goes  far  away,  remains  unknown, 
and  supposes  that  the  act  which  he  has  com- 
mitted has  passed  for  ever.     He   has  washed 
his  hands  of  it,  he  has  repented,  he  believes 
his   action  obliterated.     But  in  reality  nothing 
is  destroyed.     At  the  moment  when  this  act 
was    accomplished,    the    light    seized   it    and 
carried  it  into  space  with  the  rapidity  of  light- 
ning.     It   became    incorporated    in   a   ray    of 
light ;  eternal,  it  will  transmit  itself  eternally 
into  infinitude. 

Likewise  a  good  action  is  done  in  secret; 
the  benefactor  thinks  it  is  concealed,  but  a  ray 
of  light  has  taken  possession  of  it.  Far  from 
being  forgotten,  it  will  live  for  ever. 

Napoleon,  in  order  to  satisfy  his  personal 
ambition,  was  voluntarily  the  cause  of  the 
death  of  five  millions  of  rhen,  whose  ages 
averaged  about  thirty  years,  and  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  life,  had  thirty-seven  more 
years  to  live.  Therefoi-e,  by  this  calculation, 
he  caused  the  destruction  of  185  millions  of 
years  of  human  life. 

His  chastisement,  his  expiation,  consists  in 
being  carried  along  by  that  ray  of  light  which 
121 


LUMEN 

left  the  plains  of  Waterloo  on  the  1 8th  June 
1815^  and  to  be  ever  moving  in  space  with  the 
quickness  of  light  itself;  to  have  constantly  in 
Napoleon's  sight  that  critical  scene,  where  he  saw  for  ever 
nien't/  crumbling  to  pieces  the  scaffolding  of  his  vain 
ambition ;  to  feel,  without  respite,  the  bitter- 
ness of  despair ;  and  to  remain  bound  to  this 
ray  of  light  for  the  185  millions  of  years  for 
whose  destruction  he  was  responsible.  By  thus 
acting,  in  place  of  worthily  fulfilling  his  mis- 
sion, he  has  retarded  for  a  similar  length  of 
time  his  progress  in  the  spiritual  life. 

And  if  it  were  given  to  you  to  see  that 
which  goes  on  in  the  moral  world,  as  clearly 
as  you  now  see  that  which  passes  in  the  phy- 
sical one,  you  would  recognise  vibrations  and 
transmissions  of  another  nature,  which  imprint 
in  the  arcana  of  the  spiritual  world,  not  only  the 
actions,  but  even  the  most  secret  thoughts. 

Qu^RENs.    Your   revelations.    Lumen,   are 
awful !     Thus,  our  eternal  destinies   are  inti- 
mately bound  up  with  the  construction  of  the 
Speculation  universe  itself     I  have  many  times  speculated 
probienfof   ^P^^  ^.he  problem  of  communication  between 
connnunica  the  worlds  bv  the  aid  of  light.     Many  physi- 

tionliyliuni-  -^  ^  ./     i.     ^ 

nous  signals  cists  have  Supposed  that  it  will  be  possible  to 
between  the  ,1.1  .        .  ,  1        -n       1 

Earth  and     establish   communication   between  the  Larth 
and  the  Moon,  and  even  the  planets,  by  the 
122 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

aid  of  luminous  signals.  But  suppose  one  could 
make  signs  from  the  Earth  to  a  star,  by  em- 
ploying the  light,  for  example,  a  hundred  years 
must  come  and  go  before  the  signal  from  the 
Earth  could  reach  its  destination,  and  the  re- 
sponse could  only  return  after  the  same  interval 
of  time  had  elapsed.  Two  centuries  must  con-  An  interval 
sequently  elapse  between  the  question  and  its  tunes  be- 
answer.     The  terrestrial  observer  would  have  *^^^°  'i'^^*' 

tion  and 

died  long  before  his  signal  could  have  reached  answer. 
his    sidereal    observer,    and   the   latter   would 
doubtless  have  undergone  a  similar  fate  before 
his  answer  could  have  been  received  ! 

Lumen.  It  would,  in  fact,  be  a  conversation 
between  the  hving  and  the  dead. 

Qu^RENs.  Pardon  a  last  question,  master — 
one  perhaps  a  little  indiscreet,  but  a  last  one, 
for  I  see  Venus  is  paling,  and  I  feel  that  your 
voice  will  soon  cease  to  be  heard.  If  actions 
are  thus  visible  in  ethereal  regions,  we  can 
then  see,  after  our  death,  not  only  our  own 
actions,  but  also  those  of  others — I  mean  those 
which  specially  interest  us  .'' 

For  instance,  a  pair  of  twin  souls,  dwelling 

in  perfect  unity,  would  like  to  see  again  for  a 

thousand   years   the   delightful   hours    passed 

together  on  the  Earth;  they  would  rush  into 

space  with  a  rapidity  equal  to  that  of  light, 
123 


LUMEN 

in  order  to  have  always  before  their  eyes  the 
same  hours  of  joy. 

In  another  sense,  a  husband  would  trace  with 
interest  the  entire  life  of  his  companion ;  and 
should  some  unexpected  situation  have  pre- 
sented itself,  he  could  at  leisure  examine  the 
causes  leading  to  the  same.  He  might  even_, 
if  his  disembodied  companion  resided  in  some 
neighbouring  region,  call  upon  her  to  observe, 
in  common  with  himself,  these  retrospective 
incidents. 

No  denial  could  be  admissible  before  such 
palpable  evidence,  and  might  not  this  power 
exercised  by  these  spirits  give  rise  to  some 
strange  revelations  .'' 

Lumen.  You  are  very  earthly,  my  friend, 
to  think  that  in  the  Heavens  memories  of 
a  material  kind  will  be  valued,  and  I  am 
astonished  that  you  can  continue  to  think 
them  of  importance.  What  should  specially 
strike  you  in  all  we  have  said  during 
these  two  interviews  is,  that  by  virtue  of  the 
laws  of  light,  we  can  see  events  after  they 
have  been  accomplished,  although  they  are 
past,  and  indeed  when  they  have  entirely 
vanished. 

Qu^RENs.  Believe    me,   master,   this   truth 

will  never  more  be  effaced  from  my  memory. 
124 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

It    is   precisely    this    point    which    I    find    so 
exceedingly  marvellous. 

Forget,  I  pray  you,  my  last  digression. 

To  say  the  truth,  that  which  from  our  first 
interview  has  most  taxed  and  surpassed  the 
bounds  of  my  imagination,  was  to  think  that 
the  duration  of  the  voyage  of  the  spirit  can 
be  not  only  nil — negative — but  also  retro- 
grade ! 

"Time   retrogressive!"     These   two  words  Time  retro- 
involve   a   contradiction  in  terms.     Dare  one 
believe  it .'' 

You  start  to-day  for  a  star,  and  you  arrive 
yesterday  !  What  do  I  say — yesterday  ?  You 
will  arrive  there  seventy-two  years  ago,  even 
a  hundred  years  ago  !  The  farther  you  go, 
the  sooner  you  will  arrive !  Terms  in  gram- 
mar must  be  remade  for  such  extraordinary 
reckoning. 

Lumen.  This  is  undeniable. 

Speaking  according  to  terrestrial  style,  there 
is  not  any  error  in  this  mode  of  expression, 
since  the  Earth  was  only  in  1793,  &c.,  for  the 
world  in  which  we  arrived,  or  for  the  world 
which  we  reached. 

You   have,   however,   on   your   little   globe  Apparent 

.  paradoxes 

certain   apparent   paradoxes,    which    give    an  anenttime. 

idea  of  this  one. 

125 


LUMEN 

For  example,  a  telegram  sent  from  Paris 
at  noon  arrives  at  Brest  twenty  minutes 
before  noon.  But  these  curious  aspects  of 
particular  application  are  not  of  sufficient 
significance  for  you  to  dwell  upon,  but 
rather  the  revelation  of  which  they  are  the 
metaphysical  form  and  the  outward  expres- 
sion. Know  that  time  is  not  an  absolute 
reahty,  but  only  a  transitory  measure  caused 
by  the  movements  of  the  Earth  in  the  Solar 
System. 

Regarded  with  the  eyes  of  the  soul,  and 
not  with  those  of  the  body,  this  picture  of 
human  life,  not  imaginary  but  real,  such  as 
it  was,  dissimulation  being  impossible,  touches 
on  one  side  the  domain  of  theology,  inas- 
much as  it  explains  physically  a  mystery 
hitherto  inexplicable :  I  mean  "  individual 
judgment"  of  ourselves  after  death. 

From    the    point    of    view   of    the    whole 

question,  the  present  of  a  world  is  no  longer 

a    momentary  actuality,   which    disappears  as 

soon   as   it   has  appeared,  it   is   no  longer   a 

phase    without    consistency,    a    gate    through 

which   the    past    is   precipitated   unceasingly 

towards   the   future,   a   mathematical  plan   in 

space.       It   is,  on   the    contrary,  an   effective 

reality,   which    flies    away    from    this    world 
126 


HOMO   HOMUNCULUS 

with  the  swiftness  of  lights  sinking  for  ever 
in  the  infinite,  and  remaining  thus  an  eternal 
present. 

The  metaphysical  reality  of  this  vast  problem  Events  live 

,       -  for  ever. 

IS  suchj  that  one  can  now  conceive  the  omni- 
presence of  the  world  throughout  all  its  dura- 
tion. Events  vanish  from  the  place  in  which 
they  were  born,  but  they  exist  in  space.  This 
successive  and  endless  projection  of  all  the 
facts  enacted  upon  every  world  takes  place 
in  the  bosom  of  the  hifinite  Being,  whose 
ubiquity  holds  everything  in  an  eternal  per- 
manence. 

The  events  which  have  been  accomplished 
upon  the  surface  of  the  Earth  since  its  creation 
are  visible  in  space  at  distances  proportioned 
to  their  remoteness  in  the  past.  The  whole 
history  of  the  globe,  and  the  life  of  each  one  of 
its  inhabitants,  could  thus  be  seen  at  a  glance 
by  an  eye  which  could  embrace  that  space. 
We  thus  understand  optically,  as  it  were,  that  Scientific 

.i  .  1  c    •   •!  I  1  explanation 

the  eternal  spirit,  present  every wliere,  can  see  ©f  ubiquity, 
all  the  past  at  one  and  the  same  moment. 

That  which  is  true  of  our  Earth  is  true  of  all 
the  worlds  in  space.  Thus  the  entire  history  of 
the  whole  universe  can  be  present  at  once  to  the 
universal  ubiquity  of  the  Creator.     I  may  add 

that  God  knows  all  the  past,  not  only  in  con- 

127 


LUMEN 


Present, 
past,  and 
future,  all 
one. 


sequence  of  this  direct  sight,  but  also  by  the 
knowledge  of  each  thing  in  the  present.  If  a 
naturalist^  such  as  Cuvier,  knows  how  to  re- 
construct, by  the  aid  of  a  fragment  of  bone, 
any  species  of  extinct  animals,  surely  the  Author 
of  Nature  knows  by  the  present  Earth  the 
Earth  which  is  past,  the  Planetary  System,  and 
the  Sun  of  the  past,  and  all  the  conditions  of 
temperatures,  aggregations,  and  combinations, 
by  which  the  elements  have  produced  the  com- 
plex condition  of  things  at  present  in  existence. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  future  can  be  as 
completely  present  to  God  in  its  actual  germs, 
as  the  past  is  in  its  fruits. 

Each  event  is  bound  in  an  indissoluble  man- 
ner with  the  past  and  the  future. 

The  future  will  be  as  inevitably  the  outcome 
of  the  present,  and  is,  as  logically  deducible 
from  it,  and  exists  in  it  as  exactly,  as  that  the 
past  itself  is  therein  inscribed  for  those  who 
are  able  to  decipher  it.  But — and  I  emphasise 
it — the  main  point  of  this  recital  is  to  state, 
to  make  you  understand,  that  the  past  life  of 
all  worlds,  and  of  all  beings,  is  always  visible 
in  space,  thanks  to  the  successive  transmission 
of  light  across  and  through  the  vast  regions  of 
the  infinite. 


128 


FOURTH   CONVERSATION 

ANTERIORES    VIT^ 

Qu^RENs.  Two  years  have  fled,  Lumen,  since 
the  day  when  you  granted  me  that  mysterious 
interview.  During  this  period,  unconsciously 
for  the  inhabitants  of  eternal  space,  but  most 
consciously  for  us  dwellers  upon  the  Earth, 
I  have  often  raised  my  thoughts  to  the  great 
problems  in  which  you  have  initiated  me,  and 
to  the  horizons  developed  before  my  mind's  New 
eye.  Doubtless,  also,  since  your  departure 
from  the  Earth  you  have  made,  through  your 
observations  and  studies,  great  advance  upon 
a  field  of  research  more  and  more  vast.  Doubt- 
less, also,  you  have  numberless  marvels  to 
declare  to  me,  now  that  my  intelligence  is 
better  prepared  to  receive  them.  If  I  am 
worthy,  and  if  I  can  comprehend  them,  give 
me  an  account.  Lumen,  of  the  celestial  voyages 
which  have  transported  your  spirit  into  the 
higher  spheres  ;  of  the  unknown  truths  which 
they  have  revealed  to  you ;  of  the  grandeurs 
129  I 


LUMEN 

which  they  have  opened  out  to  you,  and  of  the 
principles  they  have  taught  you  in  reference 
to  that  mysterious  subject,  viz.,  the  destiny  of 
man,  and  other  beings. 

Lumen.  I  have  prepared  your  mind,  my  dear 
old  friend,  to  receive  marvellous  impressions, 
such  as  no  earthly  spectacle  ever  has,  or  could 
produce.  It  is,  nevertheless,  necessary  that 
you  should  keep  your  understanding  free  from 
all  earthly  prejudice.  That  which  I  am  going 
to  unfold  will  astonish  you,  but  receive  it  from 
the  first  with  attention  as  an  undeniable  truth, 
and  not  as  a  romance.  This  is  the  first  condi- 
tion that  I  demand  from  my  earnest  pupil. 
When  you  comprehend — and  you  will  compre- 
hend, if  you  bring  to  the  task  a  mathematical 
mind  and  an  unprejudiced  spirit — you  will  see 
that  all  the  facts  which  constitute  our  ultra- 
terrestrial  existence  are  not  only  possible,  but 
also  real,  and  moreover,  are  in  perfect  harmony 
with  our  intellectual  faculties  as  already  mani- 
fested upon  the  earth. 

Qu^RENs.  Be  assured.  Lumen,  that  I  bring 
to  you  an  open  mind,  cleared  from  all  pre- 
judice, and  I  am  eagerly  expecting  to  hear 
revelations  such  as  the  human  ear  has  never 
before  heard. 

Lumen.  The  events  which  will  form  the 
130 


ANTERIORES   VITJE 

subject  of  this  recital  have  not  only  the  Earth  Space  and 
and  its  neighbouring  stars  for  their  subject, 
but  they  will  extend  over  immense  fields  of 
sidereal  astronomy,  and  make  us  acquamted 
with  their  marvels.  Their  explanation  will  be 
solved,  as  was  that  of  former  difficulties,  by 
the  study  of  light,  a  magic  bridge  thrown  from 
one  star  to  another,  from  the  Earth  to  the 
Sun,  from  the  Earth  to  the  stars — of  light,  the 
universal  movement  which  fills  space,  sustains 
worlds  in  their  orbits,  and  constitutes  the 
eternal  life  of  nature.  Take  care,  then,  to 
keep  ever  in  mind,  the  fact  of  the  successive 
transmission  of  light  in  space. 

QuiERENS.  I  know  that  light,  whatever  it  Velocity  of 
may  be,  is  the  agent  by  which  objects  are 
rendered  visible  to  our  eyes,  that  it  is  not 
transmitted  instantaneously  from  one  point  to 
another,  but  gradually,  like  all  motion.  I  know 
that  it  flies  at  the  rate  of  75,000  leagues  a 
second,  that  it  runs  750,000  leagues  in  ten 
seconds,  and  4,500,000  each  minute.  I  know 
that  it  takes  more  than  eight  minutes  to  cross 
the  distance  of  37  millions  of  leagues  which 
separate  us  from  the  Sun.  Modern  astronomy 
has  made  these  facts  familiar. 

Lumen.  Do  you  perfectly  realise  its  undula- 

tory  movement  ? 

131 


LUMEN 

Qu^RENs.  I  think  so.     I  compare  it  to  that 

of  sound,  although  it  be  accomplished  upon  a 

scale  incomparably  more  vast.     By  undulation 

Unduiatory  following  undulation,  sound  is  diffused  in  the 

movement       .  i    p      i      i     . 

of  Sound,  air.  When  the  bells  peal  forth  their  sonorous 
sound,  this  is  heard  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  clapper  strikes  the  bell,  by  those  living 
round  the  church,  but  is  not  heard  till  one 
second  after,  by  those  living  at  a  distance  of  492 
yards  ;  two  seconds  later  by  those  at  765  yards  ; 
and  three  seconds  later  still,  by  those  at  a  dis- 
tance of  1093  yards  from  the  church.  Thus 
sound  only  gradually  reaches  one  village  after 
another  as  far  as  it  can  go. 

In  the  same  way  light  passes  successively 
from  one  region  in  space  to  another  at  a 
greater  distance,  and  travels  without  being 
extinguished  into  the  far-off  realms  of  Infinity. 
If  we  could  see  from  the  Earth  an  event  which 
is  being  accomplished  upon  the  Moon ;  for  in- 
stance, if  we  had  sufficiently  good  instruments 
to  perceive  from  here,  a  fruit  falling  from  a  tree 
on  the  surface  of  the  Moon,  we  should  not 
see  the  fact  at  the  moment  of  its  occurrence, 
but  one  second  and  a  quarter  after,  because 
light  requires  about  that  time  to  travel  the 
distance  from  the  Moon  to  the  Earth.  Simi- 
larly, could  we  see  an  event  taking  place  upon 
132 


ANTERIORES  VITJE 

a  world  at  ten  times  greater  distance  than  the 
Moon,  we  could  not  witness  it  until  13  seconds 
after  it  had  really  happened.  If  tliis  world 
were  a  hundred  times  farther  off  than  the 
Moon,  we  could  not  see  an  event  until  130 
seconds  after  it  had  taken  place;  were  it  a 
thousand  times  more  distant,  we  should  not 
see  it  until  1300  seconds,  or  21  minutes  40 
seconds  had  elapsed.  And  so  on  according  to 
the  distance. 

Lumen.  Exactly,  and  you  are  aware  that  the  Time  taken 
luminous  ray   sent  to  the   Earth   by  the   star  traveUing 
Capella  takes  seventy-two  years  in  reaching  it.  S^°'?j,'^f^4.h 
It  follows,  therefore,  that  if  we  only  receive  starCapeUa. 
the   luminous  ray   to-day,   which  left  its   sur- 
face seventy-two  years   ago,  the  denizens  of 
Capella  see  only  that  which  happened  on  the 
Earth   seventy -two    years    ago.      The    Earth 
reflects     in    space     the     light     that     it    gets 
from  the   Sun,   and   from   a   distance,  appears 
as  brilliant  as   Venus   and   Jupiter  appear  to 
you,    planets   lighted   by   the   same   Sun  that 
lights   the   Earth.      The   luminous   aspect    of 
the  Earth,  its  photograph,  journeys  in  space 
at  the  rate   of  75,000   leagues  a  second,  and 
only  reaches  Capella  after   seventy-two  years 
of  incessant  travel.     I  recall  these  elementary 

principles  in  order  that  you   may  have  them 
133 


LUMEN 

thoroughly  fixed  in  your  memory ;  you  will 
tlien  be  able  to  comprehend^  without  diffi- 
culty, the  facts  which  have  happened  to  me 
during  my  ultra-terrestrial  life  since  our  last 
interview. 

Qu^RENs.  These  principles  of  optics  are,  to 
my  mind,  clearly  established.  The  day  after 
your  death  in  October  1864,  when,  as  you 
have  confided  to  me,  you  found  yourself 
rapidly  transported  to  Capella,  you  were  asto- 
nished to  arrive  there  at  the  moment  when 
the  philosophical  astronomers  of  the  country 
were  observing  the  Earth  in  the  year  1793, 
and  witnessing  one  of  the  most  significant  acts 
of  the  French  Revolution.  You  were  not  less 
surprised  to  see  yourself  again  as  a  child,  run- 
ning about  in  the  streets  of  Paris.  Then,  leav- 
ing Capella  and  coming  nearer  to  the  Earth, 
you  arrived  at  the  zone  where  that  part  of 
the  terrestrial  photography  passed  before  your 
vision,  which  showed  you  your  infancy,  and 
you  saw  yourself  at  six  years  of  age,  not  in 
memory,  but  in  reality.  Out  of  all  your  pre- 
vious revelations,  this  is  the  one  I  had  the  most 
difficulty  in  believing — I  mean,  in  grasping  its 
meaning. 

Lumen.   That  which   I   now  wish   to  make 

you  comprehend  is  stranger  still.      But  it  wa3 
134 


ANTERIORES   VIT^ 

first  necessary  for  you  to  admit  that  one^  before 
I  could  adequately  I'eveal  to  you  this  one. 

On  leaving  Capella  and  approaching  the 
Earth,  I  saw  again  my  seventy-two  years  of 
earthly  existence,  my  entire  life  such  as  it  had 
been,  passed  before  me ;  for,  in  approaching 
the  Earth,  I  passed  through  successive  zones 
of  earthly  scenes,  where  I  saw  spread  out  as 
in  a  scroll  the  visible  history  of  our  planet, 
because  in  going  back  towards  the  Earth,  I 
was  continually  meeting  the  various  zones 
which  earned  through  space  the  visible  his- 
tory of  our  planet,  comprising  that  of  Paris  as 
well  as  my  own,  for  I  was  there.  Taking  thus 
in  one  day  a  retrospective  survey  of  the  road  Retrospec- 
which  it  had  taken  light  seventy-two  years  of  life  on 
to  traverse,  I  had  reviewed  my  whole  life  in  ^^^'^'^• 
that  one  day,  and  I  perceived  even  my  own 
interment. 

QuiERENs.  It  is  as  if,  on  returning  from 
Capella  to  the  Earth,  you  had  seen,  as  in  a 
min-or,  the  seventy-two  years  of  your  life  pho- 
tographed year  by  year.  The  one  the  farthest 
from  the  Earth,  but  which  had  started  the 
first,  and  was  the  oldest,  showed  events  as 
they  were  in  1 793 ;  the  second,  which  left  the 
Earth  a  year  later,  and  had  not  yet  reached 

Capella,  contained  those  of  1794;  the  tenth, 
135 


LUMEN 

those  of  1803  ;  the  thirty-sixth,  having  reached 
midway  on  the  road,  gave  those  of  1829;  the 
fiftieth,  those  of  1843  ;  the  seventy-first,  those 
of  1864. 

Lumen.  It  is  impossible  to  have  better 
grasped  these  facts,  which  seem  so  mysterious 
and  incompi-ehensible  at  first  sight.  Now  I 
can  recount  to  you  that  which  happened  to  me 
upon  Capella,  after  having  thus  witnessed  over 
again  my  existence  on  the  Earth. 


Lumen.  Whilst  not  very  long  ago  (but  I  can 
no  longer  express  that  time  by  earthly  mea- 
surements), in  a  melancholy  region  of  Capella, 
I  was  contemplating  the  starry  heavens  at  the 
beginning  of  a  clear  night,  occupied  in  noting 
the  star  which  is  your  earthly  Sun,  and  near  it 
the  little  azure  planet,  your  Earth,  I  observed 
one  of  the  scenes  of  my  childhood — my  young 
mother  seated  in  the  midst  of  a  garden,  hold- 
ing an  infant  in  her  arms  (my  brother),  having 
at  her  side  a  little  girl  of  two  summers  (my 
sister),  and  a  boy  two  years  older  (myself).  I 
saw  myself  at  that  age  when  man  is  not  yet 
conscious  of  his  intellectual  existence,  though 

he  bears  even  then  upon  his  brow  the  germ  of 
13t) 


ANTERIORES   VIT^ 

future  promise.  Whilst  dreaming  of  this  singu- 
lar spectacle^  which  showed  me  myself  at  the 
entrance  of  my  earthly  career,  I  felt  my  atten- 
tion drawn  from  your  planet  by  a  superior 
power,  and  directed  towards  another  point  in 
the  heavens,  which,  even  at  that  moment, 
seemed  to  be  linked  with  the  Earth  and  my 
career  there,  by  some  mysterious  tie.  I  could 
not  turn  my  gaze  from  this  new  point  in  the 
the  heavens,  my  eyes  being,  as  it  were,  chained 
to  the  spot  by  some  magnetic  power  I  was 
unable  to  resist.  Several  times  I  endeavoured 
to  withdraw  my  eyes,  and  to  fix  them  on  the 
Earth  I  love  so  well ;  but  in  vain,  for  I 
was  ever  re-attracted  to  the  same  unknown 
star. 

This  star,  upon  which  my  eyes  sought  in- 
stinctively to  divine  something,  belongs  to 
the  constellation  of  Virgo,  whose  form  varies 
slightly  as  seen  from  Capella.  It  is  a  double 
star,  that  is  to  say,  an  association  of  two  suns, 
one  of  a  silvery  whiteness,  the  other  of  a 
bright  golden  yellow,  which  revolve  round  one 
another  once  in  175  years.  This  star  can  be 
seen  from  the  Earth  with  the  naked  eye,  and  The  star 
its  sign  is  the  letter  y  (Gamma),  in  the  constel-  virgo.^'° 
lation   of  Virgo.      Around    each    of  the    suns 

which   form   it   there   is  a  planetary  system. 
137 


LUMEN 

My  sight  was  fixed  upon  one  of  the  planets 
liifeonthe   belonging  to  the  golden  sun.     On  that  planet 

planet  of  i  i  i  i  \, 

Virgo.  there  are  animals  and  vegetables  as  upon  the 

Earth  ;  their  forms  bear  a  similarity  to  earthly 
ones,  although  there  is  an  essential  difference 
in  their  organisms.  Their  animal  kingdom  is 
analogous  to  yours;  they  have  fishes  in  the 
seas,  quadrupeds  in  the  air,  in  which  men  can 
fly  without  wings,  by  reason  of  the  extreme 
density  of  the  atmosphere.  The  men  of  this 
planet  possess  almost  the  same  form  as  those 
on  the  Earth,  but  no  hair  grows  upon  their 
heads,  and  they  have  three  large  thin  thumbs 
instead  of  five  fingers  on  their  hands,  and  three 
great  toes  at  the  heel  in  place  of  soles  to  their 
feet,  the  extremities  of  their  arms  and  legs 
being  supple  as  india-rubber.  They  have, 
nevertheless,  two  eyes,  a  nose,  and  a  mouth, 
which  give  them  their  resemblance  to  earthly 
beings.  They  have  not  two  ears,  one  on  eacli 
side  of  the  head,  but  one  only,  in  the  shape  of 
a  cone,  Avhich  is  placed  on  the  upper  part  of 
the  skull  like  a  little  hat. 

They  live  in  societies  and  wear  clothing. 
Thus,  you  see,  in  their  exterior  they  differ 
little  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  Earth. 

Qu^RENS.  Are  there,  then,  in  other  worlds 

beings  entirely  distinct  from  us,  but  who,  not- 
138 


ANTERIORES  VITM 

withstanding  their  dissimilarities,  can  be  com- 
pared with  us  ? 

Lumen.  A  distinction  profound  and  unima- 
giuiible  by  you  separates  in  general  the  animal 
life  of  the  different  worlds.  These  forms  are 
the  result  of  elements  special  to  each  globe,  and  of 
the  forces  which  regulate  them  :  matter,  density, 
weight,  heat,  light,  electricity,  atmosphere,  &c., 
differ  essentially  on  each  globe.  Even  in  the 
the  same  system  these  forms  differ. 

Thus  the  men  of  Uranus  and  Mercury  do 
not  in  any  way  resemble  the  men  of  the  Earth  ; 
those  who  see  them  for  the  first  time  cannot 
perceive  that  they  possess  either  head,  mem- 
bers, or  senses.  On  the  contrary,  the  forms  of 
those  in  the  planetary  system  of  Virgo,  towards  The  system 
which  my  attention  was  being  persistently  l^  virg™* 
drawn,  are  nearly  similar  to  those  of  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  Earth,  whom  they  also  resemble 
morally  and  intellectually.  Slightly  inferior  to 
ourselves,  they  belong  to  that  scale  in  the 
order  of  souls  which  immediately  precedes 
that  of  terrestrial  humanity  as  a  whole. 

Qu^REXs.  Yet  there  is  a  wide  divergence 
between  human  beings  themselves  in  all  that 
pertains  both  to  intellect  and  morals.  We  in 
Europe  differ  greatly  from  the  tribes  of  Abys- 
sinia and  from  the  savages  of  the  Oceanic  Isles. 
139 


LUMEN 

What  people  do  you  take  as  a  type  of  the 
highest  degree  of  intelligence  on  the  Earth  ? 
The  Arabs         LuMEN.   The   Arabs.     They  are    capable    of 
inteUigence.  producing  their  Keplers^  their  Newtons,  their 
Galileos^  their  Archimedes,  their  Euclids,  their 
D'Alemberts.    Besides,  they  sprang  from  those 
primitive  hordes  whose   roots   reach   down  to 
the   bed   rock   of   humanity.      But  it   is   not 
necessary  to  choose  a  people  for  a  type.     It 
is  better  to  consider  modern  civilisation  as  a 
whole.     Nor  is  there  so  "marked  a  distance  as 
you  appear    to    suppose,   between    the    brain 
capacity  of  a  negro  and  that  of  the  Latin  race. 
However,  if  you  insist  upon  a  comparison,  I 
can  assure  you  that  the  men  of  the  planet  of 
Virgo  are  almost  on  a  par  intellectually  with 
the  Scandinavians. 
Vital  dif-  The    most    vital     difference    which    exists 

tween  Virgo  between  their  world  and  the  Earth,  is  the 
and  the  absence  of  sex.  Neither  plants,  animals,  nor 
human  beings  have  sex.  Generation  is  effected 
spontaneously,  as  the  natural  result  of  the 
union  of  certain  physiological  conditions  in 
some  of  the  fertile  isles  of  this  planet,  man 
not  being  formed  in  the  womb  of  his  mother 
as  upon  earth.  It  would  be  useless  to  explain 
the  process,  to  one  whose  earthly  faculties  pre- 
vent him  compi'ehending  the  facts  of  a  world 
140 


Earth. 


ANTERIORES   YITJE 

distinctly  different  from  his  own.  It  results 
from  this  organic  arrangement,  that  marriage 
in  any  form  does  not  exist  in  this  world,  and 
that  the  friendships  between  human  beings 
are  never  mixed  with  the  carnal  desires,  which 
are  inevitably  manifested  on  the  Earth  between 
people  of  different  sexes,  even  when  the  attrac- 
tion is  most  pure.  Probably  you  will  remember 
that  during  the  protozoic  period,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Earth  were  all  deaf,  dumb,  and  sexless. 
The  division  into  sexes  took  place  much  later 
in  the  history  of  Nature  both  among  animals 
and  plants. 

Being  attracted  towards  this  far-off  planet  I 
attentively  examined  its  surface  with  my  spiri- 
tual sight,  and  I  was  specially  drawn,  without 
knowing  the  cause,  to  a  white  city,  resembling 
from  afar  a  region  covered  with  snow ;  but  it 
is  improbable  that  it  was  snow,  as  it  is  unlikely 
that  water  can  exist  on  that  globe  in  the  same 
physical  and  chemical  conditions  as  upon  the 
Earth.  Upon  the  borders  of  this  city  an  avenue 
led  to  a  neighbouring  wood  of  yellow  trees.  I 
soon  remarked  three  persons  who  seemed  to 
be  slowly  sauntering  towards  this  wood.  This 
little  group  was  formed  of  two  friends,  who 
were  in    close    conversation,   and    of  a    third, 

who  differed  from  both   by   his   red   garment 
141 


LUMEN 

and  the  burden  he  bore,  and  who  was  pro- 
bably their  servant,  their  slave,  or  some 
domestic  animal.  Whilst  intently  regarding 
the  two  principal  personages,  I  observed  the 
one  to  the  right  raise  his  face  to  the  sky,  as 
if  some  one  had  called  him  from  a  balloon, 
and  turn  his  gaze  towards  Capella,  a  star 
which,  doubtless,  he  did  not  see,  because  for 
him  it  was  then  daylight.  Oh,  my  old  friend, 
I  shall  never  forget  the  sudden  surprise  this 
sight  gave  me !  I  can  still  scarcely  believe 
that  I  was  not  dreaming  .   .   . 

This  person  on  the  planet  of  Virgo,  who  was 
looking  towards  me  without  knowing  it,  was 
.  .  .  Can  I  tell  you  ?     Well,  it  was  myself! 

Qu^RENS.   Wow  yourself  ? 

Lumen.  Yes,  my  very  self.  I  recognised 
myself  instantly,  and  you  can  judge  of  my 
surprise  ! 

QuyERENs.  Certainly  I  can.  I  cannot  com- 
prehend it  at  all. 

Lumen.  The  fact  is,  the  situation  was  so 
entirely  novel  that  it  demands  explanation. 
It  was  in  truth  myself,  and  I  was  not  long 
in  finding  out,  not  only  that  it  was  my  former 
face  and  figure,  but  also  that  the  j^erson  walk- 
ing  by  my  side  was   my  dear  Kathleen,  an 

intimate   friend,    and    the    companion    of   my 

142 


ANTERIORES   VIT^ 

studies  upon  that  planet.  My  gaze  followed 
them  as  far  as  the  Yellow  Wood,  across 
picturesque  valleys,  beneath  golden  cupolas, 
under  trees  covered  with  large  orange-tinted 
branches,  and  through  hedges  of  elms  with 
amber-coloured  leaves.  A  purling  brook  bab- 
bled on  the  fine  sand,  and  we  seated  ourselves 
on  its  banks.  I  recall  sweet  hours  we  have 
passed  together,  the  happy  years  which  have 
glided  away  in  this  far-off  country,  the  fraternal 
confidences,  and  the  impressions  we  shared,  in 
the  midst  of  woodland  scenes,  of  silent  plains, 
of  mist-covered  hills,  and  of  little  lakes  which 
smilingly  reflected  the  heavens.  With  aspira- 
tions raised  towards  all  that  was  grand  and 
sacred  in  nature,  we  adored  God  in  His  works. 
With  what  joy  I  saw  again  this  phase  of  my 
previous  existence,  and  riveted  anew  the  Anterior 
golden  chain,  whose  links  hfe  on  Earth  had 
broken ! 

In  truth,  dear  Quserens,  it  was  my  very  self 
who  then  was  living  on  that  planet  of  Virgo. 
I  really  saw  myself,  and  I  could  follow  in 
sequence  the  events  of  my  life  and  the 
happiest  moments  of  that  existence,  now  so 
far  remote. 

Besides,    if   I    had    had    any    doubt   of   my 

identity,   the   uncertainty   would   have   ceased 
143 


LUMEN 

during  my  observation,  for  whilst  pondering 
upon  the  matter,  I  saw  Berthor — my  brother 
during  that  existence — come  out  of  the  wood, 
approach  us,  and  join  in  our  conversation  by 
the  side  of  the  murmuring  brook. 

QuiERENs.  Master,  I  fail  still  to  comprehend 
how  you  could  really  see  yourself  on  that 
planet  of  Virgo.  Were  you  then  gifted  with 
ubiquity .'' 

Could  you,  Hke  Francis  of  Assisi  or  Apol- 

lonius  of  Tyana,  be  in  two  places  at  the  same 

time  ? 

Scientific  LuMEN.    Certainly  not.      But  in  examining 

ofanteiioi    the    astronomical    co-ordinates    of    the    Sun 

Vir'T  Gamma  in  Virgo,   and    knowing    its   parallax 

as  seen  from  Capella,  I  came  to  the  conclusion 

that  the  light  from  this  Sun  could  not  employ 

less  than  172  years  in  travei'sing  the  distance 

which  separates  it  from  Capella. 

I  was  then  actually  receiving  the  luminous 
ray  which  left  that  world  172  years  before. 
And  it  so  happens  that  at  that  epoch  I  was 
absolutely  living  upon  the  planet  of  which 
we  speak,  and  that  I  was  then  in  ray  twen- 
tieth year.  In  verifying  these  periods,  and 
in  comparing  the  different  planetary  styles, 
I  found,  in  fact,  that  I  was  born  on  the  world 

of  Virgo  in  the  year  4o904.  (which  corresponds 
144 


ANTERIORES   VITiE 

to  the  year  1677  of  the  Christian  era  on  Earth), 
and  that  I  died — through  an  accident — in  the 
year  45913,  which  corresponds  to  the  year 
1767.  Each  year  of  this  planet  equals  ten  of 
yours.  When  I  saw  myself,  as  I  have  just 
told  you,  I  appeared  to  be  about  twenty  years 
of  age  according  to  earthly  reckoning,  but  fol- 
lowing the  way  of  reckoning  on  that  planet, 
I  was  only  two  years  old.  There  the  age  of 
fifteen  years  is  often  reached,  which  is  con- 
sidered the  limit  of  life  on  that  globe,  and  is 
equivalent  to  ]  50  years  on  the  Earth. 

The  luminous  ray,  or,  to  speak  more  accu-  Light  takes 
rately,  the  aspect  or  photograph  of  the  world  Ira/erfrom 
of  Virgo,  takes  172  earthly  years  to  traverse  Jf"gii*° 
the   immense   space   which    separates   it  from 
Capella ;    consequently,   upon    finding    myself 
upon  this  last  star,   I   was  receiving  at  that 
very  moment  the  image  which  left  the  con- 
stellation of  Virgo  172  years  previously.     And 
although  things  have  changed  greatly,  though 
generations  have  followed  generations,  though 
I  died  there  myself,  and  have  had  time  to  be 
bom  again  and  live  seventy-two  years  on  the 
Earth,   nevertheless   light  had   taken  all   this 
time  to  cross  the  space  which  separates  Virgo 
from  Capella,  and  was  bringing  afresh  to  me 

impressions  of  events  long  passed  away. 
145  K 


LUMEN 

QuiERENs.  This  duration  of  the  passage  of 
light  being  proved,  I  have  not  any  objection 
to  urge  on  this  point,  but  I  frankly  own  that 
to  credit  an  experience  of  such  amazing  singu- 
larity, taxes  my  imagination  beyond  its  just 
limits. 

Lumen.  This  is  not  any  imagination,  my  old 
friend.     It  is  a  reality,  eternal  and  sacred,  hold- 
ing its  fixed   place    in   the   universal    plan  of 
creation.     The  light  of  every  star,  direct  or 
reflected — say  otherwise,   the   aspect  of  each 
Sun,  and  of  each  planet — is  diffused  in  space, 
according  to  a  rate  of  rapidity  already  known 
to  you,  and  the  luminous  ray  contains  in  itself 
all  that  is  visible.     As  nothing  can  be  lost,  the 
The  history  history  of  each  world  is  contained  in  the  light 
world  is  con-  which  incessantly  emanates  from  it  in  succes- 
ravTofiight^  ^^^^    waves,  eternally   travelling   into    infinite 
space  without  any  possibility  of  its  being  anni- 
hilated.    True,  the  terrestrial  eye  cannot  read 
it ;  but  there  are  eyes  immeasurably  superior 
to  your  earthly  ones. 
light  is  I  make  use  of  the  terms  sight  and  Ught,  in 

^ether"^     these    conversations,    in    order   that   you   may 
Sight,  per-    comprehend  me  ;  but,  as  I  told  you  in  a  previ- 

ceptions  of  ^  • 

thought       ous  communication,  speaking  absolutely,  there 

is  not  such  a  thing  as  light,  only  vibrations  of 

ether;  neither  is  there  any  sight,  only  pereep- 
146 


ANTERIORES  VIT^ 

tions  of  the  mind.  Moreover,  even  upon  the 
Earth,  when  you  examine  the  nature  of  a  star 
with  a  telescope,  or  better  still  with  a  spectro- 
scope, you  well  know  it  is  not  its  actual  state 
you  have  before  your  eyes,  but  its  past  state, 
transmitted  to  you  by  a  ray  of  light  which  left 
it,  perhaps,  ten  thousand  years  ago.  You  know, 
besides,  that  a  certain  number  of  stars,  of  which 
your  astronomers  on  the  Earth  are  seeking  to 
determine  the  physical  and  numerical  pro- 
perties, and  which  shine  brilliantly  over  your 
heads,  have  long  ago  ceased  even  to  exist — 
may  indeed  have  ceased  to  exist  since  the  be- 
ginning of  your  world. 

Qu^RENS.  We  know  this  is  so.  Thus  you 
have  seen,  unrolled  before  your  eyes,  your 
existence  previous  to  the  last  one,  172  years 
after  it  had  flown  by. 

Lumen.  Say  rather  one  phase  of  this  exist- 
ence ;  but  I  could  have  been  able,  and  could 
now  indeed  review  my  entire  life  by  going 
closer  to  that  planet,  as  I  have  already  done 
for  my  terrestrial  existence. 

QujERens.  So,  through  the  medium  of  light, 
you  have  really  seen  again  your  last  two  incar- 
nations } 

Lumen.  Precisely ;  and  what  is  more,  I  have 
seen  them,  and  continue  to  see   them,  si7nul- 
147 


LUMEN 

taneously,  side  by  side  as  it  were  of  one 
anotlier. 

QuiERENs.  You  see  them  again  both  at  the 
same  time  ? 

Lumen.  This  fact  is  easily  explained.  The 
light  from  the  Earth  takes  seventy-two  years 
to  reach  Capella.  The  light  from  the  planet 
of  Virgo,  being  once  and  a  half  farther  off  than 
Capella,  takes  once  and  a  half  longer  time  to 
travel,  which  w'ould  make  it  about  172  years. 
As  I  lived  seventy-two  years  upon  the  Earth, 
and  one  hundred  years  before  that  upon  the 
other  planet,  these  two  periods  reach  me  at 
precisely  the  same  time  upon  Capella.  Thus 
by  simply  looking  at  these  two  worlds,  I  have 
before  me  my  last  two  existences,  which  unroll 
themselves  as  if  I  were  not  here  to  see  them, 
and  without  my  being  able  to  change  any  of 
the  acts  that  I  see  myself  upon  the  point  of 
accomplishing,  either  upon  the  one  or  the 
other,  since  those  acts,  although  present  and 
future  to  my  actual  observation,  are  in  reality 
past. 

Qu^RENS.  This  is  indeed  a  strange  experi- 


ence 


Lumen.  But  what  struck   me  most  in   this 

unexpected  observation  of  two  of  my  previous 

existences   in    two    different   worlds,  thus   un- 
148 


ANTERIORES   VIT.E 

rolled  before  me,  Avas  the  odd  resemblance 
between  these  two  lives.  I  found  that  I 
had  almost  the  same  tastes  in  the  one  as 
in  the  other,  the  same  passions,  the  same 
errors.  Nothing  criminal,  nothing  saintly  in 
either. 

Furthermore  (extraordinary  coincidence),  I 
have  witnessed  scenes  in  the  first  analogous 
to  those  I  have  seen  upon  the  Earth.  This 
explains  the  innate  tastes  I  brought  into  the  Explanation 
terrestrial  world,  for  the  poetry  of  the  North,  testes.^'^^"* 
the  poems  of  Ossian,  the  dreamy  landscape 
of  Ireland,  for  its  mountains  and  its  Aurora 
Borealis.  For  Scotland,  Scandinavia,  Sweden, 
Norway  with  its  fiords,  Spitzbergen  with  its 
solitudes — all  alike  attracted  me.  Old  towers 
in  ruins,  rocks  and  wild  ravines,  sombre  pines 
soughing  with  the  northern  winds — all  these 
appealed  to  me  on  the  Earth,  and  seemed  to 
have  some  mysterious  link  with  my  deepest 
thoughts.  When  I  saw  Ireland  for  the  first 
time,  I  felt  as  if  I  had  lived  there  before. 
When  for  the  first  time  I  ascended  the  Rigi 
and  the  Finsteraarhorn,  and  saw  the  superb 
sunrise  over  the  snowy  summits  of  the  Alps, 
it  seemed  as  if  I  had  previously  seen  all  this. 
The  spectre  of  the  Brocken  was  not  new,  the 
reason  being  that  I  had  in  a  former  life  in- 
149 


LUMEN 

habited  similar  regions  on  the  planet  of  Virgo. 
The  same  life,  the  same  actions,  the  same 
circumstances,  the  same  eonditions^analogies, 
analogies  !  Almost  all  that  I  have  seen,  done, 
thought  on  the  Earth,  I  had  already  seen,  done, 
thought  a  hundred  years  before  upon  that 
anterior  world.  I  had  always  suspected  it ! 
Taking  it  altogether,  however,  my  terrestrial 
life  as  a  whole  was  superior  to  the  one  pre- 
ceding it.  Each  child  in  coming  into  the 
world  brings  with  him  different  faculties, 
special  predispositions,  innate  dissimilarities, 
which  no  one  denies,  and  can  only  be  ex- 
plained to  the  philosophical  mind, — or  in  view 
of  eternal  Justice, — by  the  supposition  of  works 
previously  accomplished  by  free  souls. 

But  though  my  terrestrial  life  was  superior 
to  its  anterior  one,  evincing,  as  it  did,  a  more 
accurate  and  profound  knowledge  of  the  system 
of  the  World,  it  yet  lacked,  I  am  bound  to 
state,  the  possession  of  certain  moral  and  physi- 
cal qualities  which  belonged  to  me  in  my  former 
existence. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  had  faculties  on  that 

World  which  I  had  not  had  upon  the  Earth. 

I  may  cite  one  specially,  that  of  flying. 

Plying  with-      I  see  that  on  the  planet  of  Virgo  I  could  fly, 
out  wings.      .  .,  ,,  1     1  •         •  1  .1 

just  as  easily  as  walk,  and  this  without  either 

150 


ANTERIORES  VIT^E 

aeronautic  apparatus  or  win  gs^  by  simply  stretch- 
ing my  arms  and  legs,  as  if  I  were  swimming 
in  the  water.  On  closely  examining  the  mode 
of  locomotion  in  use  on  that  planet,  I  see 
clearly  that  I  have  (or  rather  had)  neither 
wings,  balloon,  nor  any  kind  of  mechanical 
appliance.  At  a  given  moment  I  spring  from 
the  ground  by  a  vigorous  leap,  and,  spreading 
out  my  arms,  sail  in  the  air  without  fatigue. 
At  other  times,  descending  a  steep  mountain 
on  foot,  I  spring  out  into  space,  with  feet 
pressed  together,  and  float  at  will,  with  a  slow 
and  oblique  motion,  to  any  point  I  wish,  stand- 
ing uprin^ht  as  soon  as  my  feet  touch  the 
ground. 

Then  again,  when  I  wish  to  do  so,  I  fly  slowly 
in  the  manner  of  a  dove  which  describes  a  cui-ve 
in  returning  to  its  dovecot.      All  this   I  dis- 
tinctly see  myself  doing  in  this  world.     Not 
once,  but  a  hundred,  a  thousand  times  have  I 
thus  felt  myself  transported  in  my  dreams  on  Dr3ams 
Earth  softly,  naturally,  and  without  apparatus,  niscencesof 
How  can  such  impossibilities  so  often  present  g^^gg 
themselves  to  us  in  our  dreams  .''     Nothing  can 
explain  them,  for  nothing  analogous  exists  upon 
this  earthly  globe.     Obejing  instinctively  this 
innate  tendency,  I  have  frequently  soared  into 

the  atmosphere  suspended  from  the  car  of  a 
151 


LUMEN 

balloon,  but  the  sensation  is  not  the  same  ;  o?}e 
does  7iot  feel  ones  self  flying  ;  on  the  contrary, 
one  has  the  feeling  of  being  stationary. 

I  now  have  the  key  to  my  dreams.  During 
the  slumber  of  my  terrestrial  senses  my  soul 
had  reminiscences  of  its  anterior  existence. 

Qu^RENS.  But  I  also  often  feel,  and  see  my- 
self flying  in  dreams  in  precisely  the  way  you 
describe,  without  wings  or  machinery,  and 
simply  by  an  effort  of  will.  Is  this,  then,  a 
proof  that  I  also  have  lived  upon  the  planet 
of  Virgo .'' 

Lumen.  I  do  not  know.  If  you  had  abnor- 
mal sight,  or  instruments,  or  eyes  sufficiently 
piercing,  you  could  see  this  planet  from  your 
globe,  examine  its  surface,  and  if,  perchance, 
you  had  existed  there  when  it  parted  with  the 
luminous  rays  which  have  actually  reached  the 
Earth,  you  might  perhaps  find  yourself  again 
there.  But  your  eyes  are  too  feeble  to  make 
a  like  research.  Besides,  it  does  not  follow 
that  because  you  have  been  able  to  fly,  that 
therefore  you  have  lived  in  that  world.  There 
are  a  considerable  number  of  worlds  where 
flying  is  the  normal  condition,  and  where  all 
the  human  race  possess  this  faculty.  In 
reality,  there  are  but  few  planets  where  the 

living  creatures  crawl  as  upon  the  Earth. 
152 


ANTERIORES   VIT^ 
QujERENs.  The    conclusion    resulting    then  Plurality  of 

r  •  •       ii.    1.  ■!_  1      1       existences. 

irom  your  experience  is,  that  you  have  had  a 
life  anterior  to  that  iipon  the  Earth.  Do  you, 
then,  believe  in  a  plurality  of  existences  for 
the  soul  ? 

Lumen.  You  forget  that  you  speak  to  a  dis- 
embodied spirit.  I  ought  to  be  well  fitted  to 
give  such  evidence,  having  before  me  both  my 
earthly  life  and  my  anterior  life  upon  the  planet 
of  Virgo.  Besides,  I  can  recall  many  other 
existences. 

QUiERENS.  Ah  !  that  is  precisely  what  I  lack 
in  order  to  possess  a  similar  conviction.  I 
can  recall  absolutely  nothing  that  preceded 
my  birth  into  this  world. 

Lumen,  You  are  yet  in  the  flesh  ;  you  must 
wait  for  freedom  from  earthly  fetters  before 
you  can  recall  your  spiritual  life.  The  soul  The  soul's 
has  only  full  remembrance,  full  possession  of 
itself  in  its  normal,  its  celestial  life ;  that  is 
to  say,  between  its  incarnations.  It  then  sees 
not  only  its  life  on  the  Earth,  but  all  its 
anterior  lives. 

How  could  a  soul,  enveloped  in  the  gross 
materialities  of  the  flesh,  and  fixed  there  for  a 
transitory  work,  recall  its  spiritual  life  ?  Would 
not  such  a  remembrance  even  prove  hurtful  ? 
What  trammels  would  not  be  put  upon  the 
15S 


LUMEN 

soul's  liberty  of  action,  could  it   see  its  life 
fi-om  the  beginning  to  the  end  ? 

Where  would  be  the  merit  of  striving  if 
one's  destiny  could  be  foreseen  ? 

Souls  incarnated  upon  the  Earth  have  not 
yet  attained  to  a  sufficiently  elevated  state  of 
advancement^  for  the  memory  of  their  anterior 
life  to  be  of  use  to  them. 

The  permanence  of  the  anterior  impressions 

of  the  soul  is  not  manifested  in  this  world  of 

passage.     The  caterpillar  does  not  remember 

its  rudimentary  existence  in   the  egg.      The 

sleeping   chrysalis   cannot   recall    the    days   it 

spent    in   work    when    it    crawled    upon    the 

Manisob-    herbage.       The     butterfly,    which    flits    from 

anterior  im- ^^^^'^  **^  flower,  has  not  any  memory  of  the 

pressions,     time   when   its   cocoon    dreamed,  as    it    hunj; 

as  in  the  ° 

butterfly,  suspended  from  its  web  ;  nor  of  the  twilight, 
when  its  lai-vae  trailed  from  plant  to  plant ; 
nor  of  the  night,  when  it  was  buried  like  a 
nut  in  its  shell.  This  does  not  alter  the  fact 
that  the  egg,  the  caterpillar,  the  chrysalis,  and 
the  butterfly,  are  one  and  the  same  being. 

In  certain  cases,  even  of  terrestrial  life,  you 
have  remarkable  examples  of  forgetfulness, 
such  as  that  of  somnambulism,  either  natural 
or  artificial,  and  also  in  certain  psychical  con- 
ditions of  which  modern  science  makes  a 
154 


ANTERIORES   VIT^ 

study.  Hence  it  is  not  surprising  that  during 
one  existence  we  should  not  remember  our 
anterior  ones.  Uranic  life  and  planetary  life 
represent  two  states^  free  and  distinct  the 
one  from  the  other. 

QuiERENs.  Still,  master,  if  we  had  already 
lived  a  life  before  this  one,  something  of  it 
would  remain  with  us,  otherwise  these  an- 
terior existences  might  as  well  never  have 
been. 

Lumen.  Do  you,  then,  call  it  nothing  to  be  Heredity. 
born  on  the  Earth  with  innate  tendencies  ? 
Such  a  thing  as  intellectual  heredity  does 
not  exist.  Take  two  children  of  the  same 
parentage,  receiving  identically  the  same  edu- 
cation, surrounded  by  the  same  care,  and 
having  in  every  respect  similar  environments. 
Now  examine  each  of  them.  Are  they  equal  ? 
Not  in  any  way ;  equality  of  souls  does  not 
exist.  The  one  is  bom  with  pacific  instincts 
and  great  intelligence.  He  will  be  good, 
learned,  wise,  illustrious  perchance,  amid  the  Dissimi- 
thinkers  of  his  age.  The  other  one  brings 
with  him  a  domineering,  envious  perhaps,  or 
even  a  brutal  instinct.  His  career  defines 
and  accentuates  itself  as  each  year  passes, 
and  will    lead   him    eventually  to  high   rank 

in  military  life,  and  will  give  him  the  honour 
155 


the  soul. 


LUMEN 

(little  to  be  coveted^  though  still  admired 
upon  the  Earth)  which  is  attached  to  the 
title  of  an  official  assassin. 

Whether  feebly  or  strongly  pronounced, 
this  dissimilarity  of  character,  which  depends 
neither  upon  family,  nor  upon  race,  nor  upon 
education,  nor  upon  material  conditions,  is 
manifest  in  every  man.  Reflect  upon  this  at 
your  leisure  ;  you  will  arrive  at  the  conviction 
that  it  is  absolutely  inexplicable^  and  can  only 
be  accounted  for  by  belief  in  an  anterior  life 
of  the  soul. 
Creation  of  Qu^RENS.  Have  not  most  philosophers  and 
theologians  taught  that  the  soul  and  the  body 
are  created  at  one  and  the  same  time .'' 

Lumen.  And  which,  pray,  is  the  precise 
moment  of  its  creation .''  Is  it  at  the  moment 
of  birth .''  Legislation,  enlightened  by  ana- 
tomical physiology,  knows  that  a  child  lives 
before  being  delivered  from  its  uterine  prison, 
therefore  the  destruction  of  an  embryo  of  eight 
months  is  regarded  as  murder.  At  what  period 
do  you  then  suppose,  that  the  soul  appears 
in  the  fluid  brain  of  the  fcetus  or  of  the 
embryo  ? 

Qu^RENs.   It  was    thought   in   olden  times 

that  the  real  spiritual  quickening  of  the  human 

being   took   place   during   the  sixth  week  of 
156 


ANTERIORES   WITM 

gestation,  but  the  modern  belief  is  that  it 
occurs  at  the  moment  of  conception. 

Lumen.  Oh,  bitter  mockery  !  In  accordance 
with  this  view  you  would  have  the  eternal 
designs  of  the  Creator  dependent  in  their 
execution  upon  capricious  desires,  upon  the 
intermittent  flames  of  two  amorous  hearts ! 
You  would  dare  to  admit  that  our  immortal 
being  is  created  by  the  physical  contact  of 
two  human  beings !  You  would  be  disposed 
to  believe  that  the  Divine  Head  which  governs 
the  worlds,  is  influenced  by  intrigue,  by  passion, 
even  by  crime !  You  would  think  that  the 
number  of  souls  depends  upon  the  number 
of  flowers  impregnated  by  the  touch  of  the 
sweet  pollen  dust  borne  to  them  on  golden 
wings .'' 

Is  not  such  a  doctrine,  such  a  supposition, 
an  outrage  upon  the  Divine  dignity  and  the 
spiritual  grandeur  of  the  soul  itself.''  And 
would  it  not,  besides,  be  the  complete  mate- 
rialisation of  our  intellectual  faculties  .'' 

Qu^RENs.  And  yet 

Lumen.  Yes ;  that  seems  so  to  you,  be- 
cause upon  your  planet  no  soul  can  incarnate 
itself  otherwise  than  in  a  human  embryo.  It 
is    a    la7V    of    life    on    the    Earth.       But   you 

must    look    through   the   veil.      The    soul    is 
157 


LUMEN 

not  an  effect.  The  body  serves  it  only  as  its 
garment. 

Qu^RENS.  I  admit  that  it  would  indeed  be 
singular  that  an  event  of  such  dire  im- 
portance as  the  creatiofi  of  an  immortal  soul 
should  spring  from  a  carnal  cause^  should 
be  the  result  of  casual  unions^  more  or  less 
legitimate.  Also,  I  agree  with  you  that 
organic  causes  do  not  explain  the  different 
degrees  of  capacity  with  which  mankind  is 
born  into  this  world. 

But  I  ask,  of  what  use  would  be  these 
various  existences  if,  on  beginning  a  new 
life,  we  retain  no  remembrance  of  those  that 
precede  it  ?  Also,  if  it  is  really  desirable  to 
have  in  prospect  a  journey  without  end 
through  endless  worlds,  and  an  eternal  trans- 
migration }  For  at  last  there  must  be  an 
end  to  it  all,  and,  after  many  aeons  of  voyages, 
we  must  some  day  finish  our  existence  and 
seek  repose.  Would  it  not  be  as  well  to  do 
so  after  one  existence  only  ? 
The  Lumen.  O  men  !     You  do  not  comprehend 

either  time  or  space.  Do  you  not  know  that 
outside  the  movement  of  the  stars  time  no 
longer  exists,  and  that  eternity  is  no  longer 
measured .''      Do  you   not   know  that  in   the 

infinite  extent  of  the  sidereal  universe  space 
158 


ANTERIORES  VITM 

is  but  a  vain  word,  no  longer  measurable  ? 
You  ignore  all;  principles,  causes,  all  escape 
you  :  atoms  upon  a  movable  atom,  you  have 
not  any  exact  appi'eciation  of  the  universe ; 
and  yet,  despite  ignorance  so  dense,  and  com- 
prehension so  obscure,  you  would  attempt  to 
judge  all,  to  envelop  all,  to  seize  all  !  But 
it  would  be  easier  to  put  the  ocean  into  a 
nutshell  than  it  would  be  to  make  you,  with 
your  terrestrial  brain,  understand  the  law  of 
destiny. 

Can  you  not,  then,  by  making  a  legitimate 
use  of  the  faculty  of  induction  which  has  been 
given  you,  gather  the  direct  consequences  re- 
sulting from  observation  supported  by  reason  ? 
Observation,  sustained  by  proof,  shows  con- 
clusively that  all  are  not  equal  on  coming 
into  this  world ;  that  the  past  is  not  unlike 
the  future ;  and  that  the  eternity  which  is 
before  us  is  equally  behind  us ;  that  nothing 
is  created  in  nature,  and  that  nothing  is  anni-  Nothing 
hilated ;  that  nature  includes  all  things  exist-  nothing 
ing,  and  that  God,  spirit,  law,  number,  are  '^""""•'^t^^'- 
no  more  outside  nature  than  matter,  weight, 
motion  ;  that  moral  truth,  justice,  wisdom, 
virtue,  exist  in  the  progress  of  the  world  as 
surely  as  its  physical  reality ;  that  justice 
decrees  equity  in  the  distribution  of  its  des- 
159 


LUMEN 

tinies ;  that  our  destinies  are  not  accomplished 
upon  this  earthly  planet;  that  the  empyrean 
heaven  does  not  exist,  and  that  the  Earth 
is  a  star  in  the  sky ;  that  other  inhabited 
planets  soar  with  ours  in  the  vast  expanse ; 
opening  out  to  the  wings  of  the  soul  an  inex- 
haustible field  of  vision,  and  that  the  infinite 
in  the  universe  corresponds,  in  the  material 
creation,  with  the  eternity  of  our  intelligence 
in  the  spiritual  creation. 

Are  not  certainties  such  as  these,  followed 
by  the  inductions  with  which  they  inspire  us, 
sufficient  to  liberate  your  mind  from  ancient 
prejudices,  and  to  open  out,  to  an  enlightened 
judgment,  a  panorama  worthy  of  the  vague  yet 
profound  desires  of  our  souls  ?  I  could  illus- 
trate this  general  sketch  by  examples  and 
details  which  would  surprise  you  still  more 
Let  it  suffice  for  me  to  add  that  there  are 
in  nature  other  forces  than  those  you  know, 
which,  both  in  essence  and  in  mode  of  action, 
differ  from  electricity,  attraction,  light,  &c. 
Unknown  Now,  among  these  natural  and  unknown  forces 
nature.  there  is  one  in  particular,  the  study  of  wliich 
will  ultimately  lead  to  singular  discoveries  in 
elucidating  the  problems  of  the  soul  and  of 
life.     This  is  the  psychic  force.     This  invisible 

fluidic  force  establishes  a  mysterious  bond,  un- 
160 


ANTERIORES   ViTJE 

known  to  themselves^  between  li\-ing  beings, 
and  already  in  many  cases  you  have  been  able 
to  recognise  its  existence.  Take  the  case  of 
two  beings  in  love  (as  the  saying  is).  It  seems 
impossible  for  them  to  live  apart.  Should  cir- 
cumstances lead  to  their  being  separated,  our 
two  lovers  become  absent-minded,  and  their 
souls  as  it  were  leave  their  bodies,  and  span 
any  distance  which  prevents  them  re-uniting 
with  one  another.  The  thoughts  of  the  one  Affinities. 
are  shared  by  the  other,  and  they  live  together 
despite  their  separation. 

Should  any  misfortune  touch  one,  the  other 
becomes  immediately  conscious  of  it  ;  and 
such  separations  have  been  kno^vn  to  end  in 
death.  How  many  facts  have  been  stated  by 
trustworthy  witnesses  of  the  sudden  apparition 
of  a  person  to  an  intimate  friend,  of  a  wife  to 
a  husband,  of  a  mother  to  a  son,  and  vice  versa, 
just  at  the  moment  of  death,  even  though 
many  leagues  might  separate  them  I  The 
most  captious  critic  cannot  iu  these  days  deny 
facts  thus  circumstantially  proved.  Twin  chil- 
dren hving  ten  leagues  apart,  and  under  very 
different  conditions,  are  stricken  at  the  same 
time  with  the  same  malady,  or  if  one  is  exces- 
sively fatigued,  the  other  feels  the  same  with- 
out apparently  any  assignable  cause.  And  so 
161  Is 


LUMEN 

on.  These  facts  prove  that  ties  of  sympathy 
exist  between  souls  and  even  between  bodies, 
and  give  room  for  the  repeated  reflection,  that 
we  are  far  from  knowing  all  the  forces  operat- 
ing in  nature. 

If  I  communicate  these  views  to  you,  my 
friend,  it  is  chiefly  to  show  that  you  can  not 
only  have  a  foretaste  of  truth  before  death,  but 
also  that  earthly  existence  is  not  so  entirely 
deprived  of  light,  as  to  prevent  one's  reason 
recognising  the  chief  characteristics  of  the 
moral  world.  Besides,  all  these  truths  will  be 
emphasised  by  my  further  narration,  when  you 
learn  that  it  is  not  only  the  previous  existence 
before  my  last  one  that  I  have  seen  again, 
thanks  to  the  slowness  of  light,  but  also  my 
ante-jDenultimate  planetary  life,  inclusive  of 
more  than  ten  existences  pi-eceding  that  one 
in  which  we  came  to  know  each  other  upon 
this  Earth. 

II 

Plurality  of       QuiERENS.  Reflection  and  study  had  already 

inclined  rae,  Lumen,  to  believe  in  the  plurality 

of  the  existences  of  the  soul.     Yet  this  doctrine 

lacks  proofs,  logical,  moral,  and  even  physical, 

as  numerous  and  as  weighty  as  are  those  in 

favour  of  the  plurality  of  the  inhabited  worlds. 
162 


ANTERIORES  VITM 

I  own  that  until  now  I  had  grave  doubts  on  the 
subject.  Modern  optics  and  marvellous  calcula- 
tions, which  enable  us  to  touch,  as  it  were,  the 
other  worlds,  show  us  their  years,  then-  seasons, 
their  days,  and  make  us  acquainted  with  the 
varieties  of  nature  living  on  their  surface.  All 
these  elements  have  enabled  contemporaneous 
astronomy  to  establish  the  fact  of  human  exist- 
ence in  the  other  worlds  on  a  strong  and  im- 
perishable foundation.  But  I  repeat  that  it  is 
not  so  with  palingenesis,  though  I  am  strongly 
inclined  towards  the  doctrine  of  the  transmigra- 
tion of  souls  in  the  actual  heaven,  since  this  is  the 
only  way  by  which  Ave  can  gain  an  idea  of 
eternal  hfe.  My  desires,  however,  need  to  be 
sustained  by  the  help  of  a  light,  and  inspired 
by  a  confidence  I  do  not  yet  possess. 

Lumen.  It  is  precisely  this  light  which  we 
have  under  consideration,  and  will  be  brought 
out  by  this  interview. 

I  have,  I  own,  an  advantage  over  you,  since  I 
speak  de  visit,  and  that  I  strictly  limit  myself 
to  interpret  with  exactitude  the  events  with 
which  my  spiritual  life  is  actually  woven. 
But  since  you  can  see  the  possibility  and  pro- 
bability of  the  scientific  explanation  of  my  state- 
ment, you  cannot  fail  as  you  listen  to  increase 

your  light  and  augment  your  knowledge. 
l6S 


LUMEN 

Qu^RENs.  It  is  for  this  cause  chiefly  that  I 
am  always  eager  to  hear  you. 

Lumen.  Lights  you  understand^  is  the  means 
of  giving  to  the  disincarnated  soul  a  direct  vision 
of  its  planetary  existences. 

After  having  reviewed  my  earthly  existence^ 
I  saw  once  more  my  life  previous  to  my  last 
one,  upon  one  of  the  planets  of  Gamma  in 
Consteiia-  Virgo,  light  bringing  to  me  the  former  only 
after  72  years,  and  the  latter  after  172  years. 
I  see  myself  at  present  from  Capella  as  I  was 
upon  the  earth  72  years  ago,  and  as  I  was  upon 
Virgo  172  years  ago.  Thus  two  existences, 
both  past  and  successive,  are  here  shown  me  as 
present  a7id  simultaneous,  by  virtue  of  the  laws  of 
light  which  transmit  them  to  me. 

Nearly  five  hundred  years  ago,  I  lived  upon 
a  world  whose  astronomical  position  as  seen 
from  the  earth  is  precisely  that  of  the  left 
Andromeda,  breast  of  Andromeda.  Assuredly  the  inhabi- 
tants of  that  world  do  not  suspect  that  the 
denizens  of  a  little  planet  in  space  have  joined 
the  stars  by  fictitious  lines,  tracing  figures  of  men, 
women,  animals,  and  divers  objects,  incorporat- 
ing all  the  stars  in  figures  more  or  less  original, 
in  order  to  give  them  a  name.  It  would  greatly 
astonish  some  of  these  planetary  people  if  they 

were  told,  that  upon  the  Earth  certain  stars 
164 


ANTERIORES  VITM 

bear  the  names  of  Heart-of-the-Scorpion  (what 
a  heart !),  Head-of-the-Dog,  Tail-of-the-Great- 
Bear,  Eye -of- the -Bull,  Neck-of-the-Dragon, 
Brow-of-Capricorn.     You  are^  of  course,  aware  Effects  of 

perspective. 

that  neither  the  constellations  drawn  upon  the 
celestial  globe,  nor  the  position  of  the  stars 
upon  that  globe,  are  either  real  or  absolute,  but 
are  only  the  result  of  the  position  of  the  Earth 
in  space,  and  thus  are  simply  a  question  of  per- 
spective. Go  to  the  top  of  a  mountain  and  fix 
upon  a  map  the  respective  positions  of  all  the 
summits  surrounding  you  in  that  circular  pano- 
rama, its  hills,  its  valleys,  its  villages,  its  lakes  ; 
a  map  so  constructed  could  only  serve  for  the 
place  from  whence  it  was  drawn.  Now  trans- 
port yourself  ten  miles  farther ;  the  same  sum- 
mits are  visible,  but  their  respective  positions 
in  regard  to  each  other  are  different,  resulting 
from  the  change  in  pei-spective.  The  panorama 
of  the  Alps  and  of  the  Oberland,  as  seen  from 
Lucerne,  and  Pilatus  does  not  in  the  least 
resemble  that  seen  from  the  Fulkhorn,  or  from 
the  Schynige  Platte  above  Interlaken.  Yet 
these  are  the  same  summits  and  the  same  lakes. 
It  is  exactly  so  with  the  stai's.  The  same  aspect 
is  seen  both  from  the  star  Delta  in  Andromeda 
and  from  the  Earth ;  but  there  is  not  a  con- 
stellation that  can  be  recognised,  because  all  the 
165 


LUMEN 

celestial  perspectives  have  changed ;  stars  of  the 
first  magnitude  have  become  of  the  second  and 
of  the  third ;  whilst  others^  of  lesser  magnitudes^ 
seen  nearer,  shine  with  increased  brilliancy ; 
and,  above  all,  the  respective  situation  of  the 
stars  as  regards  one  another  has  completely 
changed  in  consequence  of  the  different  position 
of  that  star  and  of  the  Earth. 

Qu^RENs.  Therefore  the  appearance  of  the 
constellation  which  one  has  so  long  believed 
to  be  ineffaceably  traced  upon  the  vaulted  sky 
is  only  due  to  perspective.  In  changing  our 
position  we  change  our  perspective,  and  our 
sky  is  no  longer  the  same.  But,  then,  ought 
we  not  to  have  a  change  of  celestial  perspective 
every  six  months,  since  during  this  interval  the 
Earth  has  greatly  altered  its  position,  having 
removed  to  a  distance  of  seventy-four  millions 
of  leagues  from  the  place  it  formerly  occupied.'' 

Lumen.  This  objection  proves  that  you  have 
perfectly  comprehended  the  principle  of  the 
deformation  of  the  constellations  as  one  moves 
in  any  direction  in  space. 

It  would  be,  as  you  suppose,  if  the  Earth's 

orbit    were    of  a    dimension    sufficiently    vast 

for  thf^   two  opposite  points  of  this   orbit  to 

change  the  view  of  this  celestial  scenery. 

Qu^RENs.  Seventy-four  milUons  of  leagues — 
166 


ANTERIORES  VIT^E 
Lumen.  Are  as  nothing  in  the  order  of 
celestial  distances,  and  can  no  more  affect 
the  perspectives  of  the  stars,  than  taking  a 
step  in  the  cupola  of  the  Pantheon  wo!.Id 
change  the  apparent  position  of  the  buildings 
in  Paris  to  the  eye  of  the  observer. 

Qu^RENs.  Certain    charts    of    the    Middle  The  charta 
Ages  represent   the   Zodiac    as    an    arch    in  f.S'L 
the  heavens,  and  place  some  of  the  constel-  "^2^'- 
lations,  such  as  Andromeda,  the  Lyre,  Cassi- 
opea,  and  the  Eagle,  in  the  same  region  as  the 
Seraphim,    the    Cherubim,   and    the    Thrones. 
That,  therefore,  was  simply  fancy,  since  con- 
stellations  have   no   real    existence,    but    are 
simply  appearances  due  to  perspective. 

Lumen.  Certainly  the  old  heaven  of  theo- 
logy   has    no    legitimate    place    to-day,   and 
simple  common  sense  shows  that  it  does  not 
exist.     Two   truths   cannot    oppose    one    an- 
other;   it    is   a    necessity   that   the   spiritual 
heaven    should    accord    with     the     physical 
heaven,  and   the  object   of  my  various   con- 
versations is  the  demonstration  of  this  truth. 
Upon   the  world   of  Andromeda  of  which  I 
speak,  there  is   nothing  resembling  the  con- 
stellation   of  Andromeda.       Seen    from    the 
Earth,  those   stars   which  appear  joined  and 
have    served    on    the    celestial    landscape   to 
167 


LUMEN 

distinguish  the  daughter  of  Cepheus  and  Cassi- 
opea,   are    in   reaUty   spread    out  in  space  at 
all  sorts  of  distancesj  and  in  every  direction. 
One    cannot   find    either   there    or    elsewhere 
the  least  vestige  of  the  tracings  of  terrestrial 
mythology. 
The  poetry        Qu^ERENs.  All    its    poetry   is    lost.   ...    I 
heavens        shall  feel,   howevcr,  a   certain    satisfaction   in 
^°^^'  believing  that   for  a  part  of  my   life  I   have 

rested  on  the  bosom  of  Andromeda.  It  is 
a  pleasant  fancy.  There  is  in  it  a  mytho- 
logical perfume  and  a  comforting  sensation, 
I  should  like  to  be  transported  there  with- 
out fear  of  the  monster,  and  without  solici- 
tude for  the  young  Perseus  bearing  the  head 
of  the  Medusa,  and  mounted  on  his  famous 
Pegasus.  But  now,  thanks  to  the  scalpel  of 
science,  there  is  no  longer  an  unveiled 
princess  bound  to  a  rock  on  the  sea-shore, 
nor  a  virgin  holding  an  ear  of  golden  corn, 
nor  Orion  pursuing  the  Pleiades;  Venus  has 
vanished  from  our  evening  sky,  and  old 
Saturn  has  let  fall  his  scythe  in  the  night. 
Science  has  caused  these  ancient  myths  to 
disappear!     I  regret  its  progress. 

Lumen.  Do  you,    then,   prefer    illusion   to 
reality  ?     Do   you    not    know    that   truth    is 

immeasurably    more    beautiful,    grander,   and 
168 


ANTERIORES  VIT^E 

infinitely  more  marvellous  than  error,  how- 
ever that  may  be  embellished  ?  What  can 
be  comparable  in  all  the  mythologies  past 
and  present,  to  the  rapt  scientific  contem- 
plation of  celestial  grandeurs  and  the  sub- 
lime movements  of  nature  ?  What  impression 
can  strike  the  soul  more  profoundly  than  the 
fact  of  the  expanse  crowded  with  worlds,  and  The  facts  of 

astronomy 

the  immensity  of  the  sidereal  systems  ?  What  grander 
voice  is  more  eloquent  than  the  silence  of  a  fancies 
star-lit  night  ?  WTiat  wild  flight  of  imagina- 
tion could  conceive  an  image  surpassing  that, 
of  the  interstellar  voyage  of  light,  stamping 
with  the  seal  of  eternity  the  transitory  events 
of  the  life  of  each  world  ? 

Throw  off,  then,  my  friend,  your  old  errors 
and  become  Avorthy  of  the  majesty  of  science. 
Listen  to  what  follows  : — 

By  reason  of  the  time  light  employs  in 
coming  from  the  system  S  of  Andromeda  to 
Capella,  I  have  seen  again,  in  this  year  of 
I869,  tny  ante-penultimate  existence,  already 
ended  five  hundred  years  ago.     That  world  is  Description 

of  the  world 

very  singular  according  to  our  ideas.     It  has  of  Andro- 
only  one  kingdom  on  its  surface,  and  that  the  ™    ** 
animal  kingdom.    The  vegetable  kingdom  does 
not  exist  there.     But  that  animal  kingdom  is 
very  different  from  ours,  and  of  a  superior  kind, 
169 


LUMEN 


The 

elements. 


Degree  of 
heat  fixes 
the  con- 
dition of 
matter. 


although  it  is  endowed  with  five  senses  similar 
to  those  on  the  Earth.  It  is  a  world  without 
sleep  and  without  fixity.  It  is  entirely  en- 
veloped in  a  rose-coloured  oceans  less  dense 
than  teiTestrial  water,  and  more  dense  than 
our  atmosphere.  It  is  a  substance  holding  a 
middle  place  as  a  fluid,  between  air  and  water. 
Terrestrial  chemistry  does  not  produce  any 
similar  substance,  therefore  it  would  be  in 
vain  to  try  and  represent  it  to  30 u.  Carbolic 
acid  gas  that  can  be  held  invisible  at  the 
bottom  of  a  glass,  and  can  be  poured  out  like 
water,  will  give  you  the  nearest  idea  of  it. 
This  is  due  to  a  fixed  quantity  of  heat  and 
electricity  held  in  permanence  upon  that  globe. 
You  are  aware  that  the  composition  of  all 
things  upon  the  Earth,  whether  mineral,  vege- 
table, or  animal,  is  in  three  states,  solid,  liquid, 
and  gaseous,  and  that  the  sole  cause  of  these 
different  conditions  is  the  heat  radiated  from 
the  Sun  upon  the  surface  of  the  Earth.  The 
interior  heat  of  the  globe  has  now  hardly  any 
appreciable  effect  upon  its  surface. 

Less  solar  heat  would  liquefy  gases  and 
solidify  liquids.  Greater  heat  would  dissolve 
solids  and  evaporate  liquids.  A  more  or  less 
quantity  of  heat  would  produce  liquid  air  (yes, 

hquid  air),  and  marble  would  be  turned  into 
170 


ANTERIORES   VIT^ 
gas.     If  by  any  cause  whatever  the  earthly  Effect  of  the 

1  n         rr  f  •  t         i  •  i  Earth  flying 

planet  were  one  day  to  fly  on  from  its  orbit  off  at  a 

at  a  tangent^  and  rush  away  into  the  glacial  ''°^®°  ' 
obscurity  of  space^  you  would  see  all  the 
water  on  the  Earth  become  solid,  and  gases  in 
their  turn  become  liquids ;  then  as  to  solids 
themselves  .  .  .  you  would  see !  No,  you 
could  not  see  this  by  remaining  upon  the  Earth, 
but  you  could  from  the  depths  of  space  witness 
this  curious  spectacle,  should  your  globe  ever 
indulge  in  the  freak  of  escaping  from  its  orbit 
at  a  tangent.  And  note  further,  that  should 
this  colossal  cold  ever  take  place  suddenly,  all 
creatures  would  find  themselves  immediately 
frozen  on  the  spot,  and  the  globe  would  carry 
into  space  the  singular  panorama  of  the  whole 
human  race,  and  every  animal  immovably  con- 
gealed for  all  eternity,  in  the  various  attitudes 
assumed  by  each  individual  and  each  creature, 
at  the  moment  of  the  catastrophe. 

There  are  worlds  now  in  this  state.     They  Worlds  in 
are  eccentric  worlds,  the  life  of  whose  inliabi-  gtatc.   Life 
tants  has  been  insensibly  arrested  by  the  rapid  ''^^*'^*^- 
flight  of  their  planet  away  from  the  Sun,  and 
they  have  been  transformed  into  millions  of 
statues.     Most  of  them  are  lying  down  asleep, 
seeing  that  this  profound  change  of  temperature 

takes  many  days  in  its  accomplishment.     There 
171 


LUMEN 


repose. 


they  are  by  millions,  pell-mell,  dead,  or,  to  be 
more  accurate,  sunk  in  a  complete  lethargy. 
The  cold  preserves  them.  Three  or  four 
thousand  years  later,  when  the  planet  returns 
fi'om  its  dark  and  frozen  aphelion  to  its  brilliant 
perihelion,  towards  the  sun— whose  fertilising 
heat  caressing  its  surface  with  welcoming  rays 
will  rapidly  increase — and  when  it  has  reached 
the  degree  which  betokens  the  normal  tem- 
perature of  these  beings,  they  will  be  resusci- 
tated at  the  age  at  which  they  were  when 
iTieawaken-  overtaken  by  sleep ;  they  will  take  up  their 
gUciai  affairs  from  the  moment  of  their  interruption 
(long  interruption  indeed !)  without  any  con- 
sciousness that  they  had  slept  a  dreamless  sleep 
for  so  many  ages.  One  may  see  some  con- 
tinuing a  game,  or  finishing  a  phras^  whose 
first  words  have  been  uttered  four  thousand 
years  ago.  All  this  is  perfectly  simple,  for  we 
have  seen  that  time  does  not  in  reality  exist. 
This,  on  a  large  scale,  is  exactly  what  passes 
on  a  small  one  on  the  Earth  when  you  re- 
vive infusoria,  which  take  a  fresh  lease  of  life 
under  the  rain,  after  several  years  of  apparent 
death. 

But  to  return  to  our  world  of  Andromeda ; 
the  rose-coloured  and  quasi-liquid  atmosphere, 

surrounding   it  entirely  as   an  ocean  without 
172 


World  of 
Adromeda. 


ANTERIORES    VITiE 

islands^  is  the  abode  of  living  beings,  who 
are  perpetually  floating  in  the  depths  of  that 
ocean  which  none  have  ever  sounded  :  fi-om 
their  birth  to  their  death  they  have  not  one 
moment's  repose.  Incessant  activity  is  the 
condition  of  their  existence.  Should  they 
become  stationary  they  would  perish.  In  order 
to  breathe,  that  is  to  say,  to  enable  this  fluid 
element  to  penetrate  to  their  bosom,  they  are 
constrained  to  keep  their  tentacles  in  unceasing 
motion,  and  their  lungs  (I  use  this  word  the 
better  to  be  understood)  constantly  open. 

The  external  form  of  this  human  race  re-  Process  of 
sembles  that  of  the  sirens  of  antiquity,  but  is  m&au 
less  elegant,  and  their  organism  approaches 
that  of  the  seal.  Do  you  see  the  essential 
difference  between  their  constitution  and  that 
of  terrestrial  man  ?  It  is  that  o?i  the  Earth  we 
breathe  without  being  conscious  of  the  act,  and 
obtain  oxygen  without  exertion,  not  being 
compelled  with  difficulty  to  convert  venous 
into  arterial  blood  by  the  absorption  of  oxygen. 
Upon  this  other  world,  on  the  contrary,  this 
nourishment  is  only  obtained  with  labour  and  at 
the  price  of  incessant  effort. 

Qu^RENs.  Then  this  world  is  inferior  to  ours 

in  the  scale  of  progress  } 

Lumen.  Without  any  doubt,   seeing   that  I 
173 


LUMEN 


Labour  of 
life  on  the 
Earth, 


inhabited  it  before  coming  upon  the  Eailh. 
But  do  not  think  that  the  Earth  is  much 
superior  by  reason  of  our  being  able  to 
breathe  whilst  we  are  asleep.  Doubtless,  it 
is  a  great  advantage  to  be  furnished  with  a 
pneumatic  mechanism,  which  opens  involun- 
tarily every  time  that  our  organism  needs  the 
least  breath  of  air,  and  which  acts  automati- 
cally and  unceasingly  night  and  day.  But 
man  does  not  live  on  air  alone ;  his  earthly 
organism  requires  to  be  nourished  with  some- 
thing more  solid,  and  this  solid  something  does 
not  come  to  him  involuntarily  as  does  air. 

What  is  the  result  ?  Look  for  a  moment 
at  the  Earth.  See  what  sorrow,  what  desola- 
tion !  What  a  world  of  misery  and  brutality  ! 
Multitudes  bowed  down  with  bent  backs  to 
the  soil,  which  they  dig  with  toil  and  pain, 
that  they  may  gain  their  daily  bread !  All 
these  heads  bent  down  to  the  grossness  of 
matter,  in  jilace  of  being  raised  up  to  the  con- 
templation of  nature !  All  these  efforts  and 
these  labours,  bringing  in  their  wake  feeble- 
ness and  disease !  All  this  traffic  to  amass  a 
little  gold  at  the  expense  of  others !  Man 
taking  advantage  of  his  brother  man  !  Castes, 
aristocracies,     robbery    and    ruin,    ambitions, 

thrones,   wars !     In   a  word,  personal  interests, 
174 


ANTERIORES   VlTvE 

always  selfish^  often  sordid^  and  the  reign  of 
matter  over  mind.  Such  is  the  normal  state 
of  the  Earth,  a  condition  forced  by  the  law 
which  rules  over  your  bodies,  compelling  you 
to  kill  in  order  to  live,  and  to  prefer  the 
possession  of  material  goods  that  cannot  be 
carried  beyond  the  grave,  to  the  possession 
of  intellectual  gifts,  which  the  soul  can  keep 
as  a  rich  and  inalienable  possession, 

Qu^RENs.  You  speak,  master,  as  if  you 
thought  it  were  possible  to  live  without 
eating. 

Lumen.  Do  you,  then,  believe  that  the 
beings  of  every  world  in  space  are  subject 
to  an  operation  so  ridiculous  as  this  ?  Hap- 
pily, in  many  of  the  worlds,  the  spirit  is  not 
subjected  to  such  ignominy. 

It  is  not  so  difficult  as  you  may  suppose,  on  Atmos- 

first  thoughts,  to  believe  in  the  possibility  of  nutrition. 

atmospheric  nutriment.     The  maintenance  of 

life  among  man  and  the  animals  depends  upon 

two   causes,   respiration   and   nutrition.      The 

first  is  found  naturally  in  the  atmosphere  ;  the 

second  is  derived  from  nourishment.     Nutrition 

produces   blood ;    from   the   blood    come    the 

tissues,  the  muscles,  the  bones,  the  cartilages, 

the  flesh,   the   brain,   the   nerves,   in  a  word, 

the   organic   constituents  of  the   body.     The 
175 


LUMEN 

oxygen  we  breathe  can  itself  be  considered 
as  a  nutritive  substance,  inasmuch  as  it  com- 
bines with  the  principal  aliments  absorbed 
by  the  stomach,  and  completes  the  formation 
of  the  blood  and  the  development  of  the 
tissues. 

Now,  to  imagine  nutrition  passing  entirely 
into  the  domain  of  the  atmosphere,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  observe  that,  as  a  whole,  a  com- 
plete aliment  is  made  up  of  albumen,  of  sugar, 
of  fat,  and  of  salt,  and  to  imagine  also  that 
an  atmospheric  fluid,  in  place  of  being  com- 
posed of  azote  and  of  oxygen  only,  should 
be  formed  of  these  different  substances  in  a 
gaseous  state.  These  aliments  are  found  in 
the  solids  that  you  absorb ;  digestion  is  the 
function  which  separates  them,  and  which 
causes  them  to  assimilate  with  the  organs  to 
The  process  which  they  belong.    When,  for  example,  you 

of  alimenta-  i       /•    i  i  .  i  . 

tiori.  eat    a    morsel    or    bread,    you    introduce   into 

your  stomach  a  grain  of  starch,  a  substance 
insoluble  in  water,  and  which  is  not  found  in 
the  blood.  The  saliva,  and  the  pancreatic  juice, 
transform  the  insoluble  starch  into  soluble 
sugar.  The  bile,  the  pancreatic  juice,  and 
the  intestinal  secretions,  change  the  sugar  into 
fat.     Both  sugar  and  fat  are  present  in  the 

blood,  and  it  is  by  the  processes  of  alimentation 

176 


ANTERIORES   VITJE 

that  substances  are  separated  and  assimilated 
in  your  body. 

It  astonishes  you,  my  friend^  that  after  living 
five  years — according  to  terrestrial  reckoning — 
in  the  celestial  world,  I  can  remember  all  these 
material  terms,  and  condescend  to  make  use  of 
them.  But  the  memories  that  I  have  brought 
from  the  Earth  are  still  vivid,  and  as  we  speak 
on  this  occasion  on  a  question  of  organic  physi- 
ology, I  do  not  feel  ashamed  of  calling  things 
by  their  own  names. 

If,  then,  we  suppose  that  in  place  of  being 
combined  or  mixed  in  the  constitution  of  bodies, 
solid  or  liquid,  these  aliments  could  be  found 
in  a  gaseous  state  in  the  composition  of  the 
atmosphere,  we  should  create  by  this  means 
nutritive  atmospheres,  which  would  dispense 
with  digestion  and  its  attendant  coarse  and 
humiliating  functions. 

That  which  man  is  capable  of  imagining  in 
the  restricted  sphere  of  his  observation.  Nature 
has  put  in  practice  in  more  than  one  spot  of 
the  universe. 

Besides,  I  can  assure  you  that  when  one  has 
ceased  to  be  accustomed  to  this  material  pro- 
cess of  the  introduction  of  nourishment  into 
the  digestive  tube,  one  cannot  avoid  being 
impressed  with  its  coarseness.  This  was  the 
177  M 


LUMEN 

reflection  I  made  a  few  days  ago  whilst  ob- 
serving one  of  the  richest  countries  on  your 
planet.  I  was  struck  by  the  suave  and  angelic 
beauty  of  a  maiden^  reclining  in  a  gondola  as 
it  floated  gently  on  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Bosphorus  before  Constantinople.  Red  velvet 
cushions,  embroidered  with  brilliant  silks, 
whose  heavj'  tassels  of  gold  touched  the  water, 
formed  the  divan  of  this  young  Circassian. 
Before  her  knelt  a  little  black  slave  playing 
upon  some  stringed  instrument.  Her  foim 
was  so  juvenile  and  graceful,  her  bended  arm 
so  elegant,  her  eyes  so  pure  and  innocent, 
her  pensive  brow  so  calm  under  the  light  of 
heaven,  that  for  an  instant  I  was  captivated 
by  a  kind  of  retrospective  admiration  for  this 
masterpiece  of  living  nature. 

Well !  while  this  pure  vision  of  awakening 
youth,  sweet  as  a  flower  opening  its  petals  to 
the  sun's  rays,  held  me  in  a  kind  of  passing 
enchantment,  the  bark  reached  the  landing- 
stage,  and  the  maiden,  leaning  on  a  slave, 
seated  herself  on  a  couch  near  a  well-spread 
table,  around  vvliich  others  had  already  gathered. 
She  began  to  eat !  Yes  !  for  near  an  hour  she 
was  eating! 

I  could  scarcely  tolerate  the  earthly  recol- 
lections recalled  by  this  ridiculous  spectacle. 
178 


ANTERIORES  VITiE 

To  see  a  being  like  that  partaking  of  food 
through  the  mouthy  and  making  her  charming 
body  the  receptacle  for  I  do  not  know  what  sub- 
stances !  What  vulgarity  !  Masticating  mor- 
sels of  some  kind  of  animal  which  her  pearly 
teeth  did  not  disdain  to  chew^  and  again  frag- 
ments of  another  animal  which  her  virginal 
lips  opened  without  hesitation  to  receive  and 
swallow  !  What  a  diet :  a  medley  of  ingre- 
dients drawn  from  cattle,  or  from  deer,  which 
have  lived  in  the  mire  and  afterwards  been 
slaughtered.  HoiTor  !  I  turned  away  with  sad- 
ness from  this  strange  contrast,  and  directed  my 
gaze  to  the  system  of  Saturn,  where  humanity 
need  not  stoop  to  such  necessities. 

The  floating  beings  belonging  to  the  world 
of  Andromeda,  where  my  antepenultimate  ex- 
istence was  passed,  are  submitted  to  a  still 
more  degrading  manner  of  sustaining  life  than 
ai'e  the  inhabitants  of  the  Earth.  They  have 
not  the  advantage  of  finding  three  parts  of 
their  nutriment  supplied  by  the  air,  as  is  the 
case  on  your  globe  :  they  must  work  to  obtain 
what  may  be  called  their  oxgyen,  and,  without 
ceasing,  they  are  condemned  to  use  their  lungs 
in  order  to  prepare  the  nutritious  air  they 
need,  without  sleeping,  and  without  ever  feel- 
ing satisfied,  because,  despite  their  incessant  toil. 
179 


LUMEN 


ence. 


they  cannot  absorb  more  than  a  small  quantity 

Victims  to    at  a  time.      Thus  they  pass   their  entire  life^ 

fur  exist-"    and    finally    die    victims    to    the    struggle    for 

existence. 

QuiERENS,  Better   far   never   to   have   been 

born  !     But  does  not  the  same  reflection  apply 

to  the  Earth  > 

What  is   the   use   of  bemg  born,  to  weary 

one's  self  vi^ith  endless  work  and  worry,  to  turn 

in    the    same    daily    treadmill    for   sixty   or   a 

hundred  years ;  to  sleep,  to  eat,  to  work,  to 

speak,  to  run,  to  err,  to  agitate,  to  dream,  ad 

i?iji)iitiim  9     Of  what  use  is  all  this  ?     Would 

not   one   be    just   as   advanced   if    one   were 

extinguished  the  day  after  birth,  or,  better  still, 

if  one  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  come  into  the 

world  ?     Nature  would  not  go  on  in  any  worse 

fashion,  and  even  if  it  did,  no  one  would  be 

the  wiser.     And  one  might  ask,  of  what  use 

is  Nature  herself,  and  why  does  the  universe 

exist  at  all  ? 

Lumen.  That  is  the  great  mystery.    Yet  must 

all  destinies  be  accomplished.     The  world  of 

Andromeda  is  decidedly  an  inferior  one.     To 

give   you  an  idea  of  the  poor  mental   calibre 

of  its   inhabitants,   I  will   cite   two   examples, 

selecting  the  subjects  of  religion  and  politics, 

as  these  are  generally  the  best  criterions  of 
180 


Humanity 
in  Andro- 
meda. 


ANTERIORES  VIT^ 

the  value  of  a  people.  In  religion^  in  place  of 
seeking  for  God  in  nature,  and  of  basing  their 
judgment  on  science,  instead  of  aspiring  to  the 
truth,  and  of  using  their  eyes  to  see  and  their 
reason  to  comprehend — in  a  word,  in  place  of 
establishing  the  foundations  of  their  philosophy 
upon  knowledge  as  exact  as  possible  of  the  order 
which  governs  the  world — they  are  divided  Humanity. 
into  sects,  who  are  voluntarily  blind,  and  be- 
lieve they  render  homage  to  their  pretended 
God  by  ceasing  to  reason,  and  think  they 
adore  Him,  in  maintaining  that  their  anthill  is 
unique  in  space ;  by  reciting  phrases  and  in 
injuring  other  sects,  and  alas !  by  blessing 
swoi'ds,  and  burnings  at  the  stake,  and  in 
authorising  massacres  and  wars.  Their  doc- 
trines contam  assertions  which  seem  expressly 
imaffined  to  outi'age  common  sense.  These  are 
precisely  those  which  constitute  the  articles  of 
their  faith  and  belief! 

They  are  stupid  in  politics.  The  most  intel- 
ligent and  pure-minded  do  not  understand  each 
other.  Therefore  the  Republic  seems  to  be  a 
form  of  government  which  cannot  be  realised. 
Tracing  the  annals  of  their  history  as  far  back 
as  possible,  one  sees  a  people,  cowardly  and 
indifferent,  deliberately  choosing,  rather  than 
govern  themselves,  to  be  led  by  an  individual 
181 


LUMEN 

claiming  to  be  their  Basileus,  their  king.  This 
chief  deprives  them  of  three-fourths  of  their 
resources,  keeping  for  himself  and  his,  the 
atmosphere  containing  the  greatest  amount 
of  rose-essence — that  is  to  say,  that  he  keeps 
the  best  in  the  land  for  his  own  use ;  he 
numbers  his  subjects,  and  from  time  to  time 
sends  them  to  fight  with  neighbouring  peo2:)les, 
who,  like  themselves,  are  subject  to  a  similar 
Basileus. 

Marshalling  them  like  shoals  of  herrings,  he 
directs  them  on  either  side  towards  the  field 
of  battle,  which  they  call  the  Jield  of  honour, 
they  then  destroy  one  another  like  furious  fools, 
without  knowing  why,  and  without,  for  that 
matter,  the  power  to  comprehend,  as  they  do 
not  even  speak  the  same  language. 

And  do  you  imagine  that  those  who,  most 
favoured  by  chance,  live  to  return,  feel  any 
hatred  against  their  Basileus  } 

Nothing  of  the  kind.     The  remnant  of  the 

army  who  live  to  see  their  homes  again,  think 

nothing  more  natural  than  to  celebrate  their 

thanksgivings  in  company  with  the  dignitaries 

of  their  sects,  supplicating  their  God  to  grant 

long  life  to,  and  to  pour  blessings  upon,  the 

worthy  man  whom  they  designate  their  father 

and  king. 

182 


ANTERIORES  VIT^ 

Qu^RENS.  I  gather  from  this  narration^  that  Organisa- 
the  inhabitants  of  Delta  Andromeda  are,  both  beings  on 
physically   and  intellectually,   greatly  our  in-  ^^'^dromeda. 
feriors,  for  upon  the  Earth  we  do  not  regulate 
our  affairs  in  this  manner  ...  In  short,  upon 
their  globe  there  is  only  one  living  kingdom, 
and  that  a  mobile  one,  without  repose,  without 
sleep,  kept  in  perpetual  agitation  by  reason  of 
an  inexorable  fate.     A  world  like  this  strikes 
me  as  being  very  fantastic. 

Lumen.  What,  then,  would  you  say  of  the 
one  I  inhabited  fifteen  centuries  ago  ?  A 
world  also  containing  only  one  kingdom,  and 
that  not  a  movable  one,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, as  fixed  as  is  your  vegetable  kingdom  } 

Qu^UENS.  How !  Animals  and  men  held 
down  by  roots  ? 


Ill 

LtnwEN.  My  existence  anterior  to  that  upon  organiaa- 
the   world    of   Andromeda   was    passed    upon  b^j^gg  on 
Venus,    a   planet   near   to    the    Earth,   where  ■^'i'^<>™eda. 
I    can    remember   myself  as   a  woman.     Not 
that  I  have   directly  seen  myself  there,  for, 
according  to   the  law  of  light,   it  would  re- 
quire the  same  length  of  time  to  travel  from 

Venus  to  Capella  as  it  would  from  the  Earth 
183 


LUMEN 

to  Capella^  and  I  consequently  see  Venus  only 
as  it  was  seventy-two  years  ago^  and  not  as  it 
was  nine  hundred  years  ago,  which  was  the 
epoch  of  my  existence  upon  that  planet. 

My  fourth  life^  previous  to  my  terrestrial 
one^  was  passed  upon  an  immense  annular 
planet  belonging  to  the  constellation  Cygnus^ 
situated  in  the  zone  of  the  Milky  Way.  This 
singular  world  is  inhabited  solely  by  trees. 

Qu^RENS.  That  is  to  say,  that  go  far  only 
plants  are  there,  and  neither  animals  nor 
intelligent  speaking  beings  ? 

Lumen.  Not  exactly.  There  are  only  plants 
there,  it  is  true.  But  in  this  vast  world  of 
plants  there  are  vegetable  races  more  advanced 
than  those  existing  upon  the  Earth.  There 
plants  live  as  we  do — feel,  think,  reason,  and 
speak. 
Reasoning  Qu^RENS.  But  this  is  impossible  !  Pardon  ! 
— I  would  say  improbable,  incomprehensible, 
and  entirely  inconceivable. 

Lumen.  These  intelligent  vegetable  races 
really  exist — so  much  so,  that  I  myself  be- 
longed to  them.  Fifteen  centuries  ago  I  was 
a  tree  possessed  of  reason. 

Qu^RENs.    But   tell  me,    how   can  a  plant 

reason   without    a   brain,    and    speak    without 

a  tongue  ? 

184 


ANTERIORES   VIT^ 

Lumen.  Tell  me,  I  beg  of  you,  by  what 
process  you  yourself  think,  and  by  what  trans- 
formation of  motion  your  soul  translates  its 
mute  conceptions  into  audible  language  ? 

Qu^RENs.  I  am  seeking,  O  Master,  but  I 
fail  to  find,  the  material  explanation  of  this 
fact,  however  ordinaiy  it  may  be. 

Lumen.  We  have  no  right  to  declare  an 
unknown  fact  impossible,  when  we  are  so 
ignorant  ourselves  of  the  laws  regulating  our 
own  being.  Because  the  brain  is  the  physio-  Facts  not 
logical  organ  of  intelligence  placed  at  the  |^^c^a*use  ^ 
service  of  man  on  the  Earth,  do  you  there-  ^"kiiowi- 
fore  beheve  that  there  are  similar  brains  and 
spinal  marrows  upon  all  the  worlds  in  space } 
This  would  be  an  error  too  childish.  The 
law  of  progress  governs  the  vital  system  of 
each  world.  This  vital  system  differs  accord- 
ing to  the  secret  nature  of  the  special  forces 
peculiar  to  each.  When  a  world  has  reached 
a  sufficient  degree  of  evolution  to  fit  it  for 
entering  into  the  service  of  moral  life,  7nind, 
more  or  less  developed,  appears  on  it. 

Do   not   imagine    that    the    Eternal  Father  Gradation  of 

1  11,        the  human 

creates  at  once  a  human  race  on  each  globe,  race. 
Not  so.     The  first  step  in  the  ladder  of  the 
animal    kingdom    receives   the   human   trans- 
figuration by  force   of  circumstance,  and  by 
18.5 


LUMEN 

natural    law^    which    ennobles    it,    as    soon    as 
progress  has  brought  it  to  a  state  of  relative 
superiority. 
Thede-  Do   you   know   why   you   have   a   chest,   a 

velopment 

of  life.  stomach,  two  legs,  two  arms,  and  a  head  fur- 

nished with  visual,  auditory,  and  olfactory 
senses  ?  It  is  because  the  quadrupeds,  the 
mammalia,  which  preceded  the  appearance  of 
man  on  the  Earth,  had  them  already.  Mon- 
key's, dogs,  lions,  bears,  horses,  oxen,  tigers, 
cats,  &c.,  and  before  them  the  horned  rhino- 
ceros, the  cave-hyena,  the  elk,  the  mastodon, 
the  oppossum,  &c.,  and  prior  to  these  the 
pleiosaurus,  the  ichthyosaurus,  the  iguanodon, 
the  pterodactyl,  &c.,  and  again  before  these 
the  fishes,  the  Crustacea,  the  mollusca,  &c., 
have  been  the  result  of  the  vital  forces  in 
action  upon  the  Earth,  dependent  upon  the 
state  of  the  soil,  of  the  atmosphere,  of  in- 
organic chemistry,  of  the  quantity  of  heat, 
and  of  terrestrial  gravity.  The  earthly  animal 
kingdom  has  followed,  from  its  origin,  this  con- 
tinuous and  progressive  march  towards  the 
perfection  of  its  typical  forms  of  mammalia, 
freeing  itself  more  and  more,  from  the  gross- 
ness  of  its  material. 

Man  is  more  beautiful  than  the  horse,  the 

horse  than  the  bear,  the  bear  than  the  tor- 
186 


ANTERIORES   VIT^ 

toise.     A   similar  law  governs   the  vegetable 
kingdom. 

Heavy,  coarse  vegetables  without  leaves  and 
without  flowers  began  the  series.  Then,  as  the 
ages  advanced,  their  forms  became  more  pure, 
and  graceful  leaves  appeared  filling  the  woods 
with  silent  shadows. 

Flowers  in  their  turn  began  to  beautify  the 
gardens  of  the  Earth,  and  spread  sweet  per- 
fumes in  an  atmosphere  until  then  insipid. 

To  the  scrutinising  eye  of  the  geologist  who 
visits  these  tertiary,  secondary,  and  primordial 
districts,  this  double  progressive  series  of  two 
kingdoms  is  to  be  seen  to  this  day.  There 
was  a  period  upon  the  Earth  when  a  few 
islands  had  but  just  emerged  from  the  bosom 
of  the  warm  waters,  into  an  atmosphere  sur- 
charged with  vapour,  when  the  only  living 
things  distinguishing  this  inorganic  kingdom 
were  long  floating  filaments  held  in  suspen- 
sion in  the  waves.  Seaweed  and  sea-wrack 
were  the  first  forms  of  vegetation.  On  the  The  genea- 
rocks,  live  creatures  for  which  one  has  no  o'f^e. 
name.  There,  sponges  swell  out.  Here, 
a  tree  of  coral  lifts  up  itself.  Further 
on,  the  Medusae  detach  themselves  and  float 
like    balls    of    jelly.       Are    these    animals  ? 

Are  these  plants }    Science  does  not  answer. 
187 


LUMEN 


Formation 
of  the 
animal 
kingdom. 


They  are  animal-plants,  zoophites.  But  life 
is  not  limited  to  these  forms.  There  are 
creatures  not  less  primitive,  and  as  simple, 
which  typify  a  special  species.  These  are  the 
annelides,  worms,  fish  in  the  form  of  a  simple 
tube,  creatures  without  eyes,  ears,  blood,  nerves, 
will,  a  vegetative  species,  yet  endowed  with 
the  power  of  motion.  Later  on  rudimentary 
organs  of  sight  and  of  locomotion  appeared, 
and  life  became  less  elemental.  Then  fishes 
and  amphibious  creatures  came  into  existence. 
The  animal  kingdom  began  to  form  itself. 

What  would  have  been  the  result  if  the  first 
creature  had  never  quitted  its  rock .?  If  these 
primitive  elements  of  terrestrial  life  had  re- 
mained stationary  at  the  point  of  their  forma- 
tion, and  if,  for  any  cause  whatever,  the  faculty 
of  locomotion  had  never  had  a  beginning  ? 
The  consequence  would  have  been,  that  in 
place  of  the  system  of  ten-estrial  vitality  being 
manifested  in  two  different  directions,  viz.,  in 
the  world  of  plants  and  the  world  of  animals, 
it  would  have  continued  manifesting  itself 
solely  in  the  first  direction,  with  the  result 
that  there  would  have  been  but  one  kingdom 
instead  of  two,  and  the  creative  progress  would 
have  operated  in  that  kingdom  as  it  operated 

in   the  animal   kingdom.     It  would  not  have 
188 


ANTERIORES   VITJE 

been  arrested  at  the  formation  of  sensitives, 
superior  plants  ■which  are  ah-eady  gifted  with 
a  veritable  nervous  system  ;  nor  would  it  have 
stopped  at  the  formation  of  flowers,  which  are 
already  bordering  on  ours  in  their  organic 
functions  ;  but,  continuing  its  ascension,  would 
have  produced,  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  that 
which  has  already  been  produced  in  the  animal 
kingdom.  As  it  is,  many  vegetables  feel  and 
act ;  here  would  have  been  vegetables  feeling 
and  making  themselves  understood.  The  Earth 
would  not  have  been  on  that  account  deprived 
of  the  human  species.  Only  mankind,  instead 
of  being  gifted  with  locomotion  as  it  is,  would 
have  been  fixed  by  the  feet.  Such  is  the  state 
of  the  annular  world  in  which  I  lived  fifteen 
centuries  ago  in  the  heart  of  the  Milky  Way. 

Qu^RENS.    Of  a  truth,  this  world  of  men-  iien-plants. 
plants  astonishes  me  more  than  the  previous 
one,  and  I  find  it  difficult  to  picture  to  myself 
the  life  and  manners  of  these  singular  beings. 

Lumen.  Their  kind  of  life  is  indeed  very 
different  from  yours.  They  neither  build  cities 
nor  make  voyages ;  they  have  no  need  of  any 
form  of  government ;  they  are  ignorant  of  war, 
that  scourge  of  terrestrial  humanity,  and  they 
have  nothing  of  that  national  self-love  called 
patriotism  which  is  one  of  your  characteristics. 
189 


LUMEN 

Prudent,  patient,  and  gifted  with  constancy, 
they  have  neither  the  mobility  nor  the  fragi- 
lity of  the  denizens  of  the  Earth.  Life  there 
reaches  an  average  of  five  or  six  centuries,  and 
is  calm,  sweet,  uniform,  and  without  revolutions. 
But  do  not  think  that  these  men-plants  live 
only  a  vegetable  life.  On  the  contrary,  they 
have  an  existence  both  personal  and  positive. 
They  are  divided,  not  by  caste,  regulated  by 
birth  and  fortune,  according  to  that  absurd  cus- 
tom on  the  earth,  but  by  families,  whose  native 
value  differs  precisely  according  to  its  kind. 
They  have  an  unwritten  social  history,  but 
nothing  which  happens  amongst  them  can  be 
lost,  inasmuch  as  they  have  neither  emigra- 
tions nor  conquests,  but  their  records  and  tra- 
ditions are  handed  down  from  one  generation 
to  another.  Each  one  knows  the  history  of 
his  own  race.  They  have  also  two  sexes,  as 
upon  the  Earth,  and  unions  take  place  there 
in  a  similar  manner,  but  are  purer,  more  dis- 
interested, and  invariably  affectionate.  Nor 
are  these  unions  always  consanguineous ;  im- 
pregnation can  even  be  effected  at  a  dis- 
tance. 

QuiERENS.  But,  after  all,  how  can  they  com- 
municate their  thoughts  if  it  be  true  that  they 
think  ?     And  besides,  master,  how  was  it  pos- 
190 


ANTERIORES   VIT^E 

sible   for   you   to   recognise   yourself  on   this 
singular  world  ? 

Lumen.    The  same  reply  will   satisfactorily  Manner  of 

111  .  T  11-  ^^^  '^PO" 

answer  your  double  question.  1  was  looking  cygiius. 
at  that  ring  in  the  constellation  of  CygnuSj 
being  drawn  there  with  persistence  by  some 
irresistible  instinct.  It  surprised  me  to  see 
only  vegetable  growths  upon  its  surface,  and  I 
principally  remarked  their  singular  manner  of 
grouping :  here  two  and  two,  there  three  and 
three,  farther  off  ten  and  ten,  besides  others 
in  larger  clusters.  Some  were  seated,  as  it 
were,  upon  the  brink  of  a  fountain,  others 
appeared  to  be  reposing,  with  little  shoots 
springing  up  round  them.  I  sought  to  find 
there  the  kinds  familiar  to  me  on  the  Earth, 
such  as  pines,  oaks,  poplars,  willows,  but  I 
could  not  find  any  of  these  botanical  growths. 

At  last  I  fixed  my  eyes  upon  a  plant  in  the 
shape  of  a  fig-tree,  without  either  leaves  or 
fruit,  but  full  of  brilliant  scarlet  flowers,  when 
suddenly  I  saw  this  enormous  fig-tree  stretch 
out  a  bough  like  a  gigantic  arm,  raise  the  ex- 
tremity of  this  arm  to  its  head,  and  pluck 
one  of  the  magnificent  flowers  ornamenting  its 
crown,  and  then  present  the  same,  with  an 
inclination  of  the  head,  to  another  fig-tree 
growing  some  httle  distance  apart,  of  slender 
191 


LUMEN 

and  graceful  form,  and  bearing  sweet  blue 
flowers.  This  one  appeared  to  receive  the  red 
flower  with  a  certain  pleasure,  for  it  extended 
a  branch,  or  one  might  say  a  cordial  hand,  to 
its  neighbour,  which  was  apparently  held  in  a 
long  clasp. 

Under  certain  circumstances,  as  you  know, 
a  gesture  is  sufficient  for  making  yourself 
known  to  another.  Thus,  then,  the  meaning 
of  this  tableau  was  borne  in  upon  me.  This 
gesture  of  the  fig-tree  in  the  Milky  Way  awoke 
within  me  a  M^orld  of  memories. 

This  Man-Plant  was  myself  as  I  was  fifteen 
centuries  ago,  and  in  the  fig-trees  with  the 
violet  flowers  Avhich  were  grouped  around  me 
I  recognised  my  children ;  for  I  recollected 
that  the  tints  of  the  flowers  borne  by  the 
offspring,  are  the  result  of  the  admixture  of 
the  two  colours  distinguishing  their  parents. 
Faculties  of  These  Men -Plants  see  without  eyes,  hear 
men-ij  an  s.  ^yjj.}^Q|j|.  £.^,.5^  and  speak  without  larynx.     Have 

you  not  flowers  upon  the  Earth  which  can  dis- 
criminate not  only  night  from  day,  but  also 
the  different  hours  of  the  day,  the  height  of 
the  sun  above  the  horizon,  a  clear  sky  from  a 
cloudy  one,  and  more,  which  perceive  divers 
sounds  with  exquisite   sensitiveness ;   and,  in 

fine,    not    only    hear    each    other    perfectly, 
192 


ANTERIORES   VIT^ 

but  also  the  butterfly  messengers.  These 
rudiments  are  developed  to  a  veritable  de- 
gree of  civilisation  upon  the  world  of  which 
I  speakj  and  these  beings  are  as  complete 
in  their  kind  as  you  on  the  Earth  are  in 
yours.  Their  intelligence,  it  is  true,  is  less 
advanced  than  the  average  intellect  of  ter- 
restrial humanity ;  but  in  their  manners  and 
mutual  relations,  they  show  in  all  ways  a 
sweetness  and  refinement,  which  might  often 
serve  as  a  model  to  the  dwellers  upon  the 
Earth. 

QUiERENs.   How  is  it  possible,  master,  that 
they  see  without  eyes,  and  hear  without  ears .'' 

Lumen.   You  will  cease  to  be  astonished,  my  Light  and 
old  friend,  if  you  will   but  reflect  that  light  only  modea 
and  sound  ai'e  nothing  else  than  two  modes  0^°*™°*'°°- 
motion.     In  order  to  appreciate  either  one  or 
the    other    of   these    two    modes    of  motion, 
you  must  (and  that  is  sufficient)  be  endowed 
with   an    apparatus    in    correspondence   with 
them,  which  might  be   only  a  simple  nerve. 
The   eye  and   the   ear  are   the   apparatus   for 
your   terrestrial    nature.      In  another   natural 
organisation  the  optic  nerve  and  the  auditory 
nerve    form    quite   different   organs.      Besides, 
light  and  sound  are  not  the  only  two  modes 
of  motion   in   nature.      I  can  even  say  that 

19s  N 


LUMEN 

light  and  sound  are  the  result  of  your  manner 

of  feeling,  and  not  of  anything  real. 

Nature  There    are   in    nature    not    one,    but    ten, 

myriads  of    twenty,  a  hundred,  a  thousand  different  modes 

modes  of      of  motion.     Upon  the  Earth  you  are  so  formed 

motion.  ^  -    •' 

as  to  be  able  to  appreciate  chiefly  these  two, 
which  constitute  almost  the  whole  of  your  life 
in  its  external  relations. 

Upon  other  worlds  there  are  other  senses 
with  which  nature  can  be  appreciated  under 
its  various  aspects.  Some  of  these  senses  take 
the  place  of  your  eyes  and  of  your  ears,  and 
others  are  in  touch  with  perceptions  entirely 
foreign  to  those  Avhich  are  received  by  terres- 
trial organs. 

Qu^RENs.  When  you  spoke  to  me  just  now 
of  the  men-plants  in  the  world  of  Cygnus,  the 
idea  occurred  to  me  to  ask  if  earthly  plants 
possess  a  soul  .f* 

Lumen.  Most  certainly.  Terrestrial  plants 
are  gifted  with  a  soul  just  as  much  as  are 
animals  and  men.  Without  a  potential  soul 
no  organisation  could  exist.  The  Jonn  of  a 
Form  deter-  plant  is  determined  by  its  soul.  An  acorn  and 
BouL  the  kernel  of  a  peach  are  planted  side  by  side 

in  the  same  soil,  the  same  situation,  under  the 
same  conditions ;  why  should  the  first  produce 
an  oak  and  the  second  a  jieach  tree  .''     Because 


ANTERIORES  VIT.E 

an  organic  force  inherent  in  the  oak  will  con-  Souls  of 

plants. 
struct  its  special  kind  of  vegetable^  and  an- 
other oi'ganic  force,  another  soul  inherent  in 
the  peach,  will  equally  draw  to  itself  other 
elements  necessary  for  its  special  body,  just 
as  the  human  soul,  in  the  construction  of  its 
body,  uses  the  means  put  by  nature  at  its 
disposal.  Only  the  soul  of  the  plant  has  not 
any  self-consciousness. 

The  souls  in  vegetables,  in  animals,  and  in  Soiils  and 
men,  have  already  attained  to  that  degree  of 
personality  and  of  authority,  which  enables 
them  to  bend  at  will,  and  to  command  and 
govern  at  pleasure,  all  those  non  -  personal  Personality 
forces  which  exist  in  the  bosom  of  immeasur- 
able nature.  The  human  monad,  for  example, 
being  superior  to  the  monad  of  salt,  or  of 
carbon,  or  of  oxygen,  absorbs  and  incorporates 
them  in  its  structure.  Our  human  soul  in  our 
teiTestrial  body  upon  the  Earth  governs,  with- 
out being  conscious  of  it,  all  the  elementary 
souls  forming  the  constituent  parts  of  its  body. 
Matter  is  not  a  solid  and  compassable  sub- 
stance. It  is  an  assemblage  of  centres  < 
forces.  Substance  has  not  any  importance. 
From  one  atom  to  another  there  is  a  great 
distance  in   proportion  to  the    dimensions  of 

atoms.     At  the  head  of  the  divers  centres  of 
195 


LUMEN 

forces  which  constitute  and  form  the  human 
body  is  the  human  soul^  governing  all  the 
ganglionic  souls,  which  are  subordinated  to  it. 

Qu^RENs.  I  must  frankly  own,  most  wise 
instructor,  that  I  fail  to  clearly  grasp  this 
theorJ^ 

Lumen.  Then  I  will  illustrate  it  for  you  by 
an  example  which  will  demonstrate  the  truth 
of  all  I  have  said,  and  convince  you  that  it  is  a 
fact. 

Qu^RENs.  A  fact  ?  Are  you,  then,  a  rein- 
carnation of  the  Princess  Scheherazade,  and 
have  you  been  fascinating  me  with  a  new  tale 
from  the  "Arabian  Nights".'' 


196 


FIFTH  CONVERSATION 

INGENIUM     AUDAX:   NATURA 
AUDACIOR 

LmiEN.  You  know  the  splendid  constellation  Theta(e)  in 
of  Orion  which  reigns  like  a  sovereign  over 
your  winter  nights,  and  the  curious  multiple 
star  6  (theta)  which  is  to  be  found  below  the 
sword  suspended  from  the  Belt,  and  shines  in 
the  midst  of  the  famous  nebula.  This  system 
0  of  Orion  is  one  of  the  most  singular  which 
is  to  be  found  in  the  vast  treasure-house  which 
contains  such  a  variety  of  celestial  jewels.  It 
is  composed  of  four  principal  Suns  disposed 
in  a  quadrilateral  form.  Two  of  these  Suns, 
forming  what  I  may  call  the  base  of  the  quad- 
rilateral, are  accompanied,  the  one  by  a  single 
Sun,  the  other  by  two  Suns.  Thus  it  is  a 
system  of  seven  Suns  around  each  of  which 
circulate  inhabited  planets. 

I  was  on  a  planet  turning  round  one  of  the  a  world  in 
secondary  Suns.     This  revolved  round  another 

of  the  four  principal   Suns.     That   in  its  turn 
197 


LUMEN 

circulated,  in  concert  with  the  others  and  at 
the  same  time,  around  an  invisible  centre  of 
gravity  in  the  interior  of  the  quadrilateral.  I 
do  not  insist  on  these  movements,  but  the 
celestial  mechanism  explains  them. 

I  was  therefore  lighted  and  warmed  on  my 
planet  by  seven  Suns  at  the  same  time  ;  by  one 
larger  and  more  brilliant  in  appearance  than 
the  other  six,  because  it  was  nearer  to  me ;  by 
a  second  very  large  and  equally  bright ;  by  a 
third  of  moderate  size,  and  by  two  who  were 
like  twins.  These  different  Suns  are  never 
Day  Suns  all  together  above  the  horizon.  There  are  day 
Suns.  "  Suns  and  night  Suns ;  that  is  to  say,  they  have 
there  no  night  properly  so  called. 

Qu^RENS.    Really  ?  Are  there  in  the  heavens 
double  and  multiple  Suns  ? 

Lumen.  Yes,  a  very  great  number.  The  system 
of  which  I  am  speaking  to  you,  amongst  others, 
is  known  to  the  astronomers  of  the  Earth,  who 
count  by  thousands  in  their  catalogues,  systems 
of  double  stars,  of  multiple  stars,  and  of  coloured 
stars.  You  can  study  them  yourself  with  your 
Inhabitants  telescope.  Now,  on  the  planet  of  Orion,  which 
Orionis  ^  have  just  mentioned  to  you,  the  inhabitants 
are  neither  vegetables  nor  animals.  They 
could   not   be    placed   in    any   classification    of 

terrestrial  life,  nor  in   either  of  the  two  great 
198 


INGENIUM  AUDAX 

divisions  of  the  vegetable  and  auimal  king- 
doms. In  truth  I  do  not  know  with  what  to 
compare  them  in  order  to  give  you  an  idea  of 
their  form. 

Have  you  ever  seen,  in  botanic  gardens,  the 
gigantic  tapering  plant  the  Cereus  giganteus  ? 

Qu^RENS.  I  know  this  plant  very  well.  Its 
name  comes  from  its  resemblance  to  the  wax 
tapers,  placed  in  three  or  more  branched  stands, 
with  which  churches  are  lighted. 

Lumen.  Well,  the  men  of  6  Orionis  bear  Analysis  of 
some  likeness  to  this  form.  Only  they  move  system. 
slowly,  and  maintain  an  upright  position  by 
means  of  a  process  of  suction  analogous  to  that 
of  the  ampullpe  of  certain  plants.  The  lower 
part  of  the  vertical  stem,  where  it  rests  on  the 
ground,  is  slightly  elongated,  like  a  starfish, 
with  little  appendages  which  fix  themselves  to 
the  soil  by  means  of  suction.  These  beings 
often  go  in  troops,  and  change  their  latitude 
according  to  the  seasons.  But  the  most  singu- 
lar peculiarity  of  their  organisation  is  that 
which  illustrates  the  principle  of  which  I  have 
spoken  to  you,  of  the  union  of  elementary  souls 
in  the  human  body.  One  day  I  visited  this 
world,  and  found  myself  in  the  midst  of  an 
Orionic  landscape.     I  beheld  a  being  standing  Piant- 

there   like   a   plant   ten    metres    high,  without    ^"^^^' 
199 


LUMEN 

leaves  or  flowers.  He  consisted  in  fact  of  a 
cylindrical  stalk,  the  uppermost  part  of  which 
separated  into  many  branches  like  those  of  a 
chandelier.  The  central  stem,  as  well  as  those 
of  the  branches,  measured  about  a  third  of  a 
metre  in  diameter.  The  tops  of  the  stalk  and 
of  the  branches  were  crowned  with  a  diadem 
of  silver  fringe.  Suddenly  I  saw  this  being 
agitate  his  branches  and  then  vanish.  The 
fact  is  that  in  this  world  individuals,  although 
quite  well,  fall  to  pieces  literally  in  an  instant. 
Death  by  The  molecules  of  which  they  are  constituted 
tion.  f^^^l   altogether   to   the  ground.     The   personal 

existence   of    the  individual  comes  to  an  end. 
His  molecules  separate  and  are  dispersed. 

Qu^RENS.     They  disintegrate,  and  the  atoms 
fly  apart,  like  truants  from  school. 

Lumen.  Just  so.  I  can  recollect  this  disin- 
tegration of  the  body  often  took  place  in  their 
lives.  Sometimes  it  was  the  result  of  con- 
trariety, sometimes  of  fatigue,  and  in  other 
cases  of  a  want  of  organic  accord  between  the 
different  parts.  They  exist  in  their  entirety 
actual  and  complete,  then  suddenly  they  are 
reduced  into  the  most  simple  elementary  form. 
The  cerebral  molecule,  which  constitutes  each 
one  in  reality,  feels  itself  descending  in  conse- 
quence of  the  fall  of  its  sister  molecules  of  the 
200 


INGENIUM   AUDAX 

long  branches,  and  it  arrives  at  the  surface  of 
the  ground  solitary  and  independent. 

Qu^RENS.  This  mode  of  dissolution  would 
sometimes  be  a  very  convenient  proceeding 
here  below.  To  get  out  of  an  embarrassing 
situation,  for  example  a  conjugal  scene  a  la 
Moliere,  or  a  bad  quarter  of  an  hour  such  as 
Rabelais  describes,  or  a  mournful  situation 
such  as  the  scaffold  for  an  execution,  one  would 
only  have  to  let  loose  one's  constituent  atoms, 
and  —  bid  good-bye  to  the  company.  .  .  . 

Lumen.   You  seem  to  regard  the  matter  as  Animated 
.   -        ,         -.  .      ,  TIT  molecules, 

a   joke,  but  1  assure  you  it   is  an  undoubted 

reality.  It  would  exist  on  the  Earth  as  well 
as  on  the  planet  of  Orion,  if  the  principle  of 
authority  were  not  so  firmly  fixed  with  you. 
There  it  is  only  in  an  elementary  form.  Your 
body  is  formed  of  animated  molecules. 

According  to  one  of  your  most  eminent 
physiologists,  your  spinal  marrow  is  a  series 
of  centres,  linked  together  independently,  and 
yet  under  control.  The  essential  constituents 
of  your  blood,  of  your  flesh,  and  of  your  bones, 
are  in  a  like  case.  They  are  provinces  self- 
governed,  but  subject  to  a  superior  authority. 
The  working  of  this  superior  authority  is  a  con- 
dition of  human  life  —  a  condition  which  is  less 
201 


LUMEN 

exclusive  amongst  the  inferior  animals.  Each 
ring  of  the  worm  called  lombric  is  a  complete 
worm,  so  that  a  lombric  represents  a  series  of 
similar  beings  constituting  a  veritable  living  co- 
operative society.  Cut  into  rings,  the  worm 
would  be  so  many  independent  individuals. 

In  the  tape-worm,  a  solitary  worm,  the  head 
is  of  more  importance  than  the  rest  of  the  body, 
and  possesses  the  faculty  of  reproducing  the 
rest  of  the  body  after  it  has  been  cut  off.  The 
leech  is  another  example  of  united  individuals. 
Cut  it  into  five  or  six  rings,  and  the  operation 
gives  you  as  many  leeches.  Thus  also,  a  cutting 
of  a  branch  of  a  tree  will  grow.  In  like  man- 
ner a  crab's  claw  or  a  lizard's  tail  will  be  re- 
produced. In  reality  the  vertebrate  animals, 
such  as  man,  are  essentially  composite  in  struc- 
ture. The  spinal  marrow,  and  its  highest 
expansion  in  the  brain,  consist  of  segments 
placed  in  juxtaposition,  with  nervous  centres, 
each  of  which  possesses  an  elementary  soul. 
Power  of  the  The  law  of  authority  in  action  on  the  Earth, 
persoua  j^^^  determined  in  the  animal  series  a  prepon- 
derating direction.  You  are  composed  of  a 
multitude  of  beings  grouped  together,  and 
dominated  by  the  plastic  attraction  of  your 
personal  soul,  which  from  the  centre  of  your 

bemg  has  formed  your  body  from  the  embryo, 
202 


IXGENIUM   AUDAX 

and  has  united  round  itself,  in  a  microcosm,  a 
whole  world  of  beings,  who  have  not  any  con- 
sciousness of  their  individuality. 

QuJEREXs.  On  the  planet  of  Orion  nature  itself 
is  then  in  a  state  of  absolute  Republicanism. 

Lumen,     Republicanism  governed  by  law. 

Qu^RENS.  But  when  a  being  finds  itself  thus 
disintegrated,  how  can  he  afterwards  reconstitute 
himself  as  a  Vthole ? 

LuiiEX.  By  an  act  of  the  vnl\,  and  often 
without  the  least  effort,  and  even  by  a  casual 
desire.  Although  separated  from  the  cerebral 
molecule,  the  corporeal  molecules  are  stiU  in- 
timately connected  with  one  another.  At  a 
given  moment  they  combine,  and  each  takes 
its  place.  The  directing  molecule  draws  the 
other  from  a  distance,  as  the  loadstone  attracts 
iron  filings. 

Qu>ERENS.  I  can  easily  picture  to  myself  the 
spectacle  of  this  Lilliputian  army,  when  sum- 
moned by  a  whistle,  drawing  to  its  centre  to 
organise  a  reunion  ;  all  the  little  soldiers  clunb- 
ing  one  over  the  other,  and  in  a  moment 
taking  their  places  to  reconstruct  the  man- 
taper  that  you  have  described  to  me.  One 
really  ought  to  leave  the  Earth  to  behold  such 
rare  wonders  ! 

LuMEX.     You  still  judge  of  universal  nature 
203 


forms  of 
life. 


LUMEN 

by  the  atom  that  you  have  before  your  eyes, 
and  you  are  only  qualified  to  comprehend  the 
facts  which  are  within  the  sphere  of  your 
observations.  But  I  assure  you  the  Earth  is 
not  the  t3'pe  of  the  universe. 
Various  This  world  of  6  Orionis,  with  its  seven  re- 

volving Suns,  is  peopled  by  an  organic  system 
analogous  to  that  which  I  have  just  described 
to  you. 

I  lived  there  2400  years  ago,  and  I  can  see 
myself  there  again  in  accordance  with  the  time 
that  light  occupied  in  coming  from  that  point  in 
space  to  Capella.  When  there,  I  was  acquainted 
with  the  spirit  who  in  this  century  was  incar- 
nated on  the  Earth  and  published  his  studies 
under  the  name  of  Allan  Kardec. 

We  did  not  recollect  that  we  had  known 
one  another  before,  during  our  terrestrial  life, 
but  we  often  felt  attracted  to  one  another  by 
peculiar  intellectual  sympathies.  Now  that  he 
has  returned,  like  myself,  into  the  world  of 
spirits,  he  also  remembers  the  singular  republic 
of  Orion  and  can  see  it.  Yes,  this  is  very 
curious,  but  it  is  quite  true.  You  have  no 
idea,  on  your  poor  planet,  of  the  unimaginable 
diversity  which  separates  the  worlds  in  their 
geological,  as   much   as    in    their  physiological 

organisations. 

204 


INGENIUM  AUDAX 

These  conversations  may  serve  to  throw  lio-ht 
on   your   knowledge   of  tliis  general    truth,  "so 
important  in   the   concei^tion   of  the    universe. 
But  the  scientific   service  that   these  conversa- 
tions  can   specially   render   you   is  in  making 
you   understand    that    light    is    the    mode    of 
transmission  of   universal   history.       With    the  Sense  of 
powerful  visual  faculty  which  we  enjoy  here,  Jfttf 
we  can  distinguish  the  surface  of  distant  worlds. 
The   eye   of  our    "perisprit"   is    not  identical 
with  the  bodily   eye.     In  the  terrestrial  sight 
the  rays  diverge,  so  that  a  very  small  object, 
placed   quite  near  the  eye  fills  the  interval  of 
the  two   rays,  whilst  at  a   greater  distance,  a 
larger   object   is   necessary   to    fill    the    space, 
proportionately  increased,  which   separates  the 
same   rays.     In  our  eye,  on  the  contrary,  the 
visual   rays  enter  in  parallel  lines,  so  that  we 
see  each  object  in  its  real  proportions,  and  in 
its   normal   size,   its   apparent  size  being  quite 
unaffected    by   distance.     We   do   not   see   the 
whole   of  large   objects,    but   only   sections   of 
them    proportioned    to    the    openings    of    our 
special  retina,  but  these  parts  are  seen  by  us 
with   equal    clearness   at   any   distance    (when 
there  is  no  atmosphere  to  veil  this  distance). 

A  tree  in  a  prairie  on  a  celestial  body,  as 
far  as  Theta  of  Orion  is  from  Capella,  is  per- 
205 


LUMEN 

fectly  visible  to  us.  Ou  tlie  other  band,  in 
accordance  with  the  law  of  the  successive 
transmission  of  the  rays  of  light,  all  the  events 
in  nature,  and  the  history  of  all  the  worlds,  are 
depicted  in  space  as  a  universal  tableau,  the 
most  true  and  the  most  magnificent  in  all 
nature. 
Infinite  As  these  conversations  will  have  shown  you,  I 

diversity  t        •   i 

in  Sirius.  have  traversed  a  great  many  dinerent  celestial 
countries,  and  have  actually  studied  creation 
without  fixing  myself  in  any  jjlace.  I  hope  in 
the  course  of  the  next  century  to  be  rein- 
carnated on  a  world  dependent  on  the  train  of 
Sirius.  The  humanity  there  is  more  beautiful 
than  that  of  the  E:irth.  Birth  is  efifected  by 
means  of  an  organic  system  less  ridiculous 
and  less  brutal  than  that  of  the  Earth. 

But  the  most  remarkable  characteristic  of 
the  life  on  this  world  is,  that  there  men  per- 
ceive the  physico-chemical  operations  which 
take  place  for  the  maintenance  of  the  body. 
From  each  molecule  of  the  body,  so  to  speak, 
proceeds  a  nerve  which  transmits  to  the  brain 
the  various  impressions  that  it  receives,  so  that 
the  soul  absolutely  knows  its  body,  and  rules 
over  it  as  a  sovereign. 

There   is   an   immense   variety  amongst   the 

worlds.     On  one  of  the  planets  of  the  system 
20G 


INGENIUM  AUDAX 

of  Alclebaran,  very  curious  from  this  point  of  Vegetable 
view,  the  vegetables  are  all  composed  of  aiijebaran, 
substance  analogous  to  the  loadstone,  because 
silica  and  magnesia  predominate  in  its  con- 
stitution. The  animals  feed  on  this  substance 
only.  Most  of  the  beings  inhabiting  this  world 
are  incombustible. 

Upon  the  world  of  which  I  speak  night  is 
illumined  by  phosphorescent  lights.  I  have 
visited  other  worlds  where  night  does  not 
exist  at  all,  where  day  and  night  do  not  suc- 
ceed each  other  as  upon  the  Earth,  because 
every  portion  of  their  spheres  is  continuously 
supplied  with  light  by  several  suns,  which 
never  leave  them  in  darkness  for  an  instant. 
There  sleep  is  unnecessary,  either  for  man,  for 
animals,  or  for  plants. 

Upon  your  planet  sleep  consumes  a  third 
portion  of  your  life,  its  primary  cause  being 
the  rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  axis,  which 
produces  day  and  night  in  succession,  on  the 
various  parts  of  the  globe. 

Upon  these  worlds  where  it  is  always  day, 
the  inhabitants  never  sleep,  and  it  would 
greatly  surprise  them  to  learn,  that  there  exists 
a  humanity  where  a  third  of  life  is  passed  in 
a  lethargy  resembling  death. 

Not  far  from   this,   a  world  revolves  where 
207 


LUMEN 

night   is     almost    U'nknown,    although    it    does 
not  possess  a  nocturnal  sun,  as  in  the  quadri- 
Piiospboric  lateral  of  Orion,  and  it  has  no  satellites.     The 
^  '  rocks   of    its   mountains,   being   of    a  chemical 

composition  that  reminds  one  of  the  phos- 
phates and  the  sulphates  of  barytes,  store  up 
the  solar  light  received  during  the  day ;  and 
during  the  night  they  radiate  a  sweet,  calm, 
translucent  light,  which  illumines  the  scenery 
with  a  tranquil  nocturnal  clearness.  There, 
also,  one  sees  curious  trees,  bearing  flowers 
which  shine  in  the  evening  like  fire-flies. 
These  resemble  horse-chestnuts,  but  the  snowy 
flowers  are  luminous. 

Phosphorus  enters  largely  into  the  composi- 
tion of  this  curious  and  singular  world.  Its 
atmosphere  is  constantly  electrical ;  its  animals 
are  luminous,  as  well  as  its  plants,  and  its 
humanity  partakes  of  the  same  nature. 
The  pas-  The  temperature   is   very  high,  and  the  in- 

^horesmit  l^al^itants  have  not  much  need  to  invent 
clothes.  Now,  it  happens  that  certain  pas- 
sions are  manifested  by  the  illumination  of 
part  of  the  body.  This  is,  on  a  large  scale, 
what  takes  place  on  a  small  scale  in  your  ter- 
restrial meadows,  where  one  sees  in  the  sweet 
summer  evenings  the  glow-worms  silently  con- 
sumed in  an  amorous  flame.  In  the  fire-flies 
208 


INGENIUM  AUDAX 

of  the  north,  that  you  see  in  France,  the  male 
is  winged  and  is  not  luminous  ;  the  female, 
on  the  contrary,  is  luminous,  but  does  not 
possess  the  aerial  faculty.  In  Italy  the  two 
sexes  are  winged,  and  both  can  become  lumin- 
ous. The  humanity  which  I  am  describing 
to  you  has  all  the  advantages  of  this  latter 
type. 

Certain  forms  of  terrestrial  life  are  to  be 
met  with  among  the  sidereal  humanities.  Thus 
we  find  in  some  of  them,  the  same  thing  that 
takes  place  on  the  Earth  in  the  ant  world, 
where,  on  the  day  of  their  aerial  unions,  all 
the  males  die  of  exhaustion  ;  and  again  in  the 
world  of  bees,  where  the  procreators  are  piti- 
lessly sacrificed;  and  amongst  spiders,  where 
they  are  devoured  by  their  companions  unless 
they  can  immediately  escape.  We  find  repro- 
duced the  habits  of  a  great  number  of  insects, 
which  never  see  their  offspring,  and  lay  their 
eggs  in  surroundings  in  which  the  newly-born 
will  find  their  first  food. 

The    human   body   on   this    Earth   owes   its 

form  and  its  state  of  being  to  the  atmospheric 

environment,  and  to  the  conditions  of  density, 

of  weight,  and  of  nutrition,  by  means  of  which 

terrestrial  evolution  operates. 

The  human  being  proceeds  from  the  fusion 
209  o 


LUMEN 

of  a  microscopic  masculine  corpuscle  with  a 
minute  feminine  ovule.  This  fusion  gives  birth 
to  a  little  cell  which  is  transformed  into  the 
embryo,  in  which  gradually  appear  the  heart, 
the  head,  the  limbs,  and  the  different  organs. 
The  nervous  system  of  this  embryo  may  be 
compared  to  rays  of  delicate  threads,  proceed- 
ing from  a  central  point  which  will  become  the 
brain. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  Solar  light  and 
of  the  vibrations  of  the  air,  one  of  these  nerves 
is  developed  at  its  extremity,  and  forms  the 
eye.  This  is  undefined  at  first,  and  almost 
blind  in  an  elementary  state,  like  the  eyes  of 
the  trilobites  and  of  the  fishes  of  the  Silurian 
period,  but  it  develops  into  the  admirable 
eyes  of  birds,  of  the  vertebrce,  and  of  man. 
The  senses  of  smell  and  taste  proceed  from 
the  nerves  in  the  same  way.  These  last  two 
senses,  with  that  of  touch,  are  the  most  primi- 
tive, the  earliest,  and  the  most  necessary  to 
life.  There  are  but  two  of  the  senses  which 
place  man  in  communication  with  the  outer 
world  —  sight  and  hearing,  —  but  the  eye  is  the 
sole  organ  which  puts  us  in  communication  with 
the  whole  universe. 

Millions  of  these  little  nerve-threads  proceed 

from  the  brain,  through  the  body,  without  pro- 
210 


INGENIUM  AUDAX 

ducing  any  other  than  the  five  senses,  unless 
we  except  certain  sensations  of  touch,  which 
are  intimate  and  personal,  and  which  have 
even  been  described  as  a  sixth  sense.  You 
shall  hear. 

Now  there  is  no  reason  why  that  v/hich  has 
taken  place  and  been  arrested  on  our  little 
planet,  should  take  place  and  be  arrested  in  the 
same  fashion  elsewhere. 

In  proof  of  this  I  must  tell  you  that  I  visited, 
not  long  smce,  two  worlds  on  which  human 
beings  have  two  senses  of  which  we  have  not 
any  idea  on  our  Earth. 

One  of  these  senses  may  be  described  as 
electrical.  One  of  the  little  nerve-threads  of 
which  I  have  just  told  you  is  developed  into  a 
multitude  of  ramifications  which  form  a  sort 
of  cornet.  These,  under  the  scalpel  and  the 
microscope,  appear  to  be  tubes  placed  in  juxta- 
position, the  outer  extremity  of  which  receives 
the  electric  fiuid  and  transmits  it  to  the  brain, 
much  as  our  optic  nerves  receive  the  waves  of 
light,  and  our  auditory  nerves  receive  the  un- 
dulations of  sound. 

The  beings  provided  with  this  sense  per- 
ceive the  electrical  condition  of  bodies,  of 
material  things,  of  plants  and  flowers,  of  ani- 
mals, of  the  atmosphere,  and  of  clouds.  To 
211 


LUMEN 

these  beings  this  electric  sense  is  a  source  of 
knowledge  which  is  wholly  forbidden  to  us. 
Their  organic  sensations  are  all  different  from 
yours.  Their  eyes  are  not  constructed  like 
yours ;  they  do  not  see  what  you  see ;  they 
see  what  you  do  not  see.  They  are  conscious 
only  of  the  invisible  violet  rays.  But  their 
mode  of  existence  differs  from  yours,  especially 
through  their  electric  sense.  The  electric 
constitution  of  their  world  is  the  cause  of  the 
existence  and  of  the  development  of  this 
sense. 

Another  sense  with  which  I  was  still  more 
struck,  and  which  was  of  quite  a  different 
character,  I  found  on  a  second  world.  This 
was  the  sense  of  orientation.  Another  of  the 
nerve-threads  proceeding  from  the  brain  pro- 
duced a  species  of  winged  ear,  very  light, 
by  means  of  which  the  living  being  per- 
ceives his  direct  bearings.  He  is  conscious 
of  the  points  of  the  compass,  and  turns  to 
the  north  or  the  south,  the  east  or  the  west, 
instinctively. 

The  atmosphere  is  full  of  emanations  which 

you  never  perceive.    Tliis  singular  sense  orients 

the  possessors  of  it  infallibly.     It  enables  them 

also  to  discover  things  concealed  in  the  interior 

of  the    Sun,  and   gives    them    an   insight    into 
212 


INGENIUM  AUDAX 

some  of  Nature's  secrets  which  are  absolutely 
hidden  from  you. 

I  would  thus  demonstrate  to  you  that  in  the 
vast  domains  of  creation  an  infinite  variety 
exists,  and  that  eternity  will  be  inexhaustibly 
occupied  in  gathering  and  partaking  of  its 
flowers  and  of  its  fruits. 

There  are  worlds  where  old  age  is  unknown 

—  where  lovers  are   consumed   in   a   delirious 

fantasy,  transported  by  the  intoxication  of  the 

body,  and  careless  of  the  morrow.     The  active 

sex  never  survive  these  nuptials  ;    the   passive 

sex,  oviparous,  having  secured  the  perpetuity 

of  the  species,   sleep  their  last   sleep.     Those 

celestial  worlds,  where  one   never  grows   old, 

are  not  without  their  advantages. 

Worlds  exist  in  which  the  vital  movements,  Life  too 

loug 
respiration,    assimilation,    the    organic    periods, 

day  and  night,  the  seasons  and  the  years,  are 
all  of  extreme  length.  Although  the  nervous 
system  of  the  human  inhabitants  is  highly 
developed,  and  thought  has  a  prodigious  ac- 
tivity, life  there  appears  t®  be  of  an  endless 
length.  Those  who  die  of  old  age  have  lived 
more  than  a  thousand  of  these  years,  but 
they  are  so  rare  that  the  memory  of  a  few 
only    have    been    preserved    in    the    historical 

records  of   this   humanity.     "War  between  the 
213 


LUMEN 


A  world 
without 
war. 


Tuflnite 
diversity 


nations  has  never  been  invented,  because  there 
is  only  one  race,  one  people,  one  language. 
The  natural  constitutions  of  these  organisms 
are  remarkable.  Diseases  ax'e  almost  unknown  ; 
there  are  no  doctors.  As  a  result  of  this  great 
mental  activity,  the  length  of  life  becomes  a 
perspective  without  end,  and  before  long  be- 
comes a  burden.  Hence  suicide  is  almost 
universal.  This  custom  has  been  habitual 
from  very  ancient  times.  The  few  old  men 
who  from  any  special  motive  have  not  put 
an  end  to  their  lives,  are  looked  upon  as  ex- 
ceptional beings,  originals,  and  more  or  less 
eccentric.     Suicide  is  the  general  law. 

But,  my  dear  friend,  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  describe  to  you  all  the  curiosities  of  the 
universe.  Let  it  suffice  that  I  have  raised 
the  veil  sufficiently,  to  gWe  you  a  glimpse  of 
the  incommensurable  diversity  that  exists,  in 
the  animated  productions  of  all  the  various 
systems  disseminated  through  space. 

While  accompanying  me  in  spirit  in  this 
interstellar  voj'age,  you  have  passed  several 
hours  away  from  the  Earth.  It  is  well  to 
isolate  one's  self  thus  at  times  amongst  the 
celestial  solitudes.  The  soul  obtains  a  fuller 
possession  of  itself,  and  in  its  solitary  re- 
flections it  penetrates  profoundly  into  the 
214 


INGENIUM  AUDAX 

universal  reality.  Terrestrial  humanity,  you 
understand,  is,  as  regards  moral  as  well  as 
physical  life,  the  result  virtually  of  the 
forces  of  the  Earth.  Human  strength,  figure, 
weight,  all  depend  on  these  forces.  The 
organic  functions  are  determined  ])y  the 
planet.  If  life  is  divided  with  you  between 
work  and  rest,  between  activity  and  sleep,  it 
is  because  of  the  rotation  of  the  globe,  and 
day  and  night.  In  the  luminous  globes,  and 
those  lighted  by  many  Suns  alternately,  they 
do  not  sleep.  If  you  need  to  eat  and  drink, 
it  is  in  consequence  of  the  insufficiency  of 
the  atmosphere.  The  bodies  of  the  beings 
who  do  not  eat  are  not  constructed  like 
yours,  since  they  have  no  need  of  a  stomach 
and  intestines.  The  terrestrial  eye  enables 
you  to  see  the  universe  in  a  certain  way,  the 
Saturnian  eye  sees  in  a  different  manner. 

There    are     senses     which     perceive     other  other  senses 

,  .  ,  ,  ...  .  .     than  those 

thmgs  than  those  which  you  perceive  ingftiie 
nature.  Each  of  the  worlds  is  inhabited  by  E*^^* 
a  race  essentially  different,  and  sometimes  the 
inhabitants  are  neither  vegetables  nor  animals. 
There  are  men  of  all  possible  forms,  of  all 
dimensions,  of  all  weights,  of  all  colours,  of 
all  sensations,  of  every  variety  of  character- 
istics. The  universe  is  infinite.  Our  ter- 
215 


LUMEN 

restrial  existence  is  ouly  one  phase  of  the 
infinite.  An  inexhaustible  diversity  enriches 
this  marvellous  field  of  the  eternal  Sower. 
The  function  of  science  is,  to  study  all  that 
the  terrestrial  senses  are  capable  of  perceiving. 
The  function  of  philosophy  is,  to  form  a  sjai- 
thesis  of  all  defined  and  determined  ideas  and 
facts,  and  to  develop  the  sphere  of  thought. 

What  vv^ould  you  say  if  I  told  you  not  only 
of  the  physical  differences  of  humanity,  but 
also  of  its  moral  and  intellectual  diversities  ? 
Its  varieties  are  great  —  too  much  so,  indeed,  for 
you  to  thoroughly  understand  them.  As  an 
instance,  I  will  give  you  just  one  noteworthy 
example.  In  your  terrestrial  humanity,  intel- 
lectual or  moral  worth  counts  for  nothing  in 
advancing  a  man,  whatever  may  be  the  value 
of  his  ideas,  or  the  worth  of  his  personal  char- 
acter, unless  he  possesses  the  means  and  the 
determination  to  push  himself  forward.  No 
one  seeks  for  bidden  merit.  A  man  must 
needs  make  his  own  way,  and  struggle  against 
intrigue,  cupidity,  and  ambition  —  a  strife  which 
is  the  antipodes  of  what  ought  to  be.  It 
results,  therefore,  that  the  noblest  and  most 
worthy  people  remain  in  obscurity,  whilst  posi- 
tion,   wealth,    and   social   distinction   are  often 

showered  on  worthless  intriguers. 
216 


INGEXIUM  AUDAX 

Ah  well  I  I  recently  visited  a  world  belong- 
ino-  to  oue  of  the  most  luminous  regions  of  the 
Milky  TV^ay,  where  an  intellectual  order  abso- 
lutely different  exists ;  where  the  constitution 
of  the  Government  is  such,  that  only  those 
distinguished  for  their  virtues  are  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  State  ;  and  their  function  is 
to  seek  out,  and  place  in  responsible  positions, 
men  worthy  of  the  trust. 

In  that  country,  in  short,  the  search  is  as 
eager  for  the  discovery  of  merit  and  intelli- 
gence, as  it  is  in  yours  for  gold  and  diamonds. 
All  is  done  there  for  the  benefit  of  humanity. 
They  have  not  invented  any  Academy,  as 
they  cannot  conceive  that  a  man  of  worth 
(instead  of  being  sought  after)  should  be  com- 
pelled to  waste  his  time  in  visits  of  ceremony, 
and  find,  probably,  that  a  titled  nobody  (who 
has  known  better  than  he  how  to  cajole  votes) 
has  been  preferred  to  himself.  So  true  it  is, 
that  the  system  prevailing  in  other  worlds  is 
far  more  enlightened  than  that  of  yours. 

Now,  my  dear  terrestrial  friend,   you  know 

what  the  Earth  is  in  the  universe ;  you  know 

something   of   what  the  heavens   contain ;    and 

you  know  also  what  Life  is,  and  what  Death 

is.     "We  shall   soon   see   the  dawn  of  morning, 

which    puts    spirits    to    flight    and   brings    our 
217 


LUMEN 

conversations  to  an  end,  as  the  approach  of 
your  terrestrial  day  causes  the  brightness  of 
Venus  to  fade  away.  But  I  should  like  to 
add  to  the  preceding  ideas  a  very  interesting 
remark  suggested  by  the  same  observations. 
Themagni-  It  is  this:  If  you  set  out  from  the  Earth  at 
onime°^^'  the  moment  that  a  flash  of  lightning  bursts 
forth,  and  if  you  travelled  for  an  hour  or 
more  with  the  light,  you  would  see  the 
lightning  as  long  as  you  continued  to  look 
at  it.  This  fact  is  established  by  the  fore- 
going principles.  But  if,  instead  of  travelling 
exactly  with  the  velocity  of  light,  you  were 
to  travel  with  a  little  less  velocity ;  note  the 
observation  that  you  might  make:  I  wUl  sup- 
pose that  this  voyage  away  from  the  Earth, 
during  which  you  look  at  the  lightning,  lasts 
a  minute.  I  will  suppose  also,  that  the  light- 
ning lasts  a  thousandth  part  of  a  second.  You 
will  continue  to  see  the  lightning  during  60,000 
times  its  duration.  In  our  first  supposition 
this  voyage  is  identical  with  that  of  light. 
Light  has  occupied  60,000  tenths  of  seconds 
to  go  from  the  Earth  to  the  point  in  space 
where  you  are.  Your  voyage  and  that  of 
light  have  co-existed.  Now  if  instead  of 
flying   with   just   the   same    velocity    as    light, 

you  had  flown  a  little  less  quickly,  and  if  you 
218 


INGENIUM  AUDAX 

had   employed  a  thousandth  part  of  a  second 
more  to  arrive  at  the   same  point,  instead  of 
always  seeing  the  same  moment  of  the  lightning, 
you  would  have  seen,  successively,  the  different 
moments  which  constituted  the   total   duration 
of    the   lightning,    equal    to    1000   parts   of    a 
second.      In    this    whole    minute    you    would 
have    had    time    to     see    first    the    beginning 
of  the   flash    of   lightning,  and    could  analyse 
the   development   of   it,  the   successive  phases 
of    it,  to   the   very    end.     You   may    imagine 
what   strange   discoveries    one  could  make    in 
the  secret  nature  of  lightning,  increased  60,000 
times  in  the  order  of  its  duration,  what  fright- 
ful battles  you  would  have  time  to  discover  in 
the  flames !  what  pandemonium !  what  unlucky 
atoms!   what  a    world   hidden  by  its  volatile 
nature  from  the  imperfect  eyes  of  mortals! 

If  vou  could  see  by  your  imagination  suffi- Vision  of 

•^  ,  .  ,   the  analys- 

ciently,  to  separate  and  count  the  atoms  which  i^g  eye. 
constitute  the  body  of  a  man,  that  body  would 
disappear  before  you,  for  it  consists  of  thou- 
sands of  millions  of  atoms  in  motion,  and  to 
the  analysing  eye  it  would  be  a  nebula  ani- 
mated by  the  forces  of  gravitation.  Did  not 
Swedenborg  imagine  that  the  universe  by 
which  he  was  surrounded,  seen  as  a  whole, 
was  in  the  form  of  an  immense  man?  That 
219 


LUMEN 

was  anthrojDomoriihism.  But  there  are  ana- 
logies everywhere.  What  we  know  most  cer- 
tainly is,  that  things  are  not  what  they  appear 
to  be,  either  in  space  or  in  time.  But  let  us 
return  to  the  delayed  flash  of  lightning. 

When  you  travel  with  the  velocity  of  light, 
you  see  constantly  the  scene  which  was  in 
existence  at  the  moment  of  your  departure. 
If  you  were  carried  away  for  a  year,  at  the 
same  rate,  you  would  have  before  your  eyes 
the  same  event  for  that  time.  But  if,  in  order 
to  see  more  distinctly  an  event  which  would 
have  taken  only  a  few  seconds,  such  as  the 
fall  of  a  mountain,  an  avalanche,  or  an  earth- 
quake, you  were  to  delay,  to  see  the  com- 
mencement of  the  catastrophe  (in  slackening 
a  little,  your  steps  on  those  of  light),  you 
would  see  the  progress  of  the  catastrophe, 
its  first  moment,  its  second,  and  so  on  suc- 
cessively, in  thus  nearly  following  the  light, 
you  would  only  see  the  end  after  an  hour 
of  observation.  The  event  would  last  for 
you  an  hour  instead  of  a  few  seconds.  You 
would  see  the  rocks,  or  the  stones  suspended 
in  the  air,  and  could  thus  ascertain  the  mode 
of  production  of  the  phenomenon,  and  its 
incidental    delays.      Already    your    terrestrial 

scientific  knowledge   enables    you    to  take  in- 
220 


ingp:nium  audax 

stantaneous  pliotograjihs  of  the  successive 
aspects  of  rapid  phenomena,  such  as  lightning, 
a  meteor,  the  waves  of  the  sea,  a  volcanic 
eruption,  the  fall  of  a  building,  and  to  make 
them  pass  before  you  graduated  in  accordance 
with  their  effect  on  the  retina.  Similarly  you 
can,  on  the  contrary,  photograph  the  pollen  of 
a  flower,  through  each  stage  of  exijansion  to 
its  completion  in  the  fruit,  or  the  development 
of  a  child  from  its  birth  to  maturity,  and  project 
these  phases  upon  a  screen,  depicting  in  a  few 
seconds  the  life  of  a  man,  or  a  tree. 

I  see  in  your  thoughts  that  you  compare 
this  effect  to  that  of  a  microscope  which  would 
magnify  time.  That  is  exactly  what  it  is  ;  we  A  chrono- 
thus  see  time  amplified.  This  process  can- 
not strictly  speaking  be  called  that  of  the 
microscope,  but  rather  that  of  a  chronoscope  or 
of  a  chrono-telescope  (to  see  time  from  afar). 
The  duration  of  a  reign  might,  by  the  same 
process,  be  augmented  according  to  the  good 
pleasure  of  the  parti  politique. 

Thus,    for   example.    Napoleon    II.    reigned 

only  three  hours,  but  one  could  see  him  reign 

for  fifteen  years  successively,  by  dispersing  the 

180  minutes  of  the  three  hours  over  the  length 

of  180  months  (in  removing  one's  self  from  the 

Earth  with  a  velocity  a  little  inferior  to  that 
221 


LUMEN 

of  light)  ;  so,  by  setting  out  at  the  very  moment 

that  the  Chamber  had  proclaimed  Napoleon  II,, 

one   would   an*ive   at    the   last   minute   of   his 

supposed  reign,  only  at  the  end  of  fifteen  years. 

Each  minute  would  be  seen  for  a  month,  each 

second  for  twelve  hours. 

Light  trans-      The  Conclusions  of  this  discourse  are  based 

space.         entirely  on  this  principle,  my  dear  Qujierens. 

I    have    endeavoured    to   show   you   that   the 

physical  law  of  the  successive  transinission  of 

Light  in  space,  is  one  of  the  fu7idamental  elements 

of  the  conditions  of  eternal  life.     According  to 

this  law  every  event  is  imperishable,  and  the 

past  is  always  present.    The  image  of  the  Earth 

as  it  was  6000  years  ago,  is  actually  now  in  space 

at  the  distance  that  light  crossed  it  6000  years 

since.     The  worlds  situated  in  that  region  see 

the  Earth  of  that  epoch.     We  could  see  again 

our   own    direct    existence   and    our  different 

anterior  existences.     All  that  we  need  for  this 

is  to  be  at  the  proper  distance  from  the  worlds 

in  which  we  had  lived.     There  are  stars  which 

you  see  from  the  Earth,  and  which  no  longer 

exist,  because   they  became   extinct  after  they 

had  emitted  the  luminous  ray  which  has  only 

just  reached  you. 

In  the  same  way  you  might  hear  the  voice 

of   a  man  at   a  distance,  who  miglit  be   dead 
222 


INGEXIUM  AUDAX 

before  the  moment  at  which  you  heard  him,  if, 
perchance,  he  had  been  struck  with  apoplexy 
immediately  after  he  had  uttered  his  last  cry. 

I  am  very  much  pleased  that  this  last  sketch  TLere  are 

,  .  J,      living  forms 

has  enabled  me  at  the  same  time  to  trace  lor  uQtnown  to 
you  a  picture  of  the  diversities  of  existence  and  ^^*^ 
of  the  possibility  of  living  forms  unknown  to  the 
Earth.  Here  also  you  see  the  revelations  of 
Urania  are  gi-ander  and  more  profound  than 
those  of  all  her  sisters.  The  Earth  is  only  an 
atom  in  the  universe. 

I  must  pause  here,  for  all  these  numerous 
and  diverse  applications  of  the  laws  of  light  are 
not  apparent  to  you.  On  the  Earth,  in  this 
dark  cavern,  as  Plato  appropriately  termed  it, 
you  vegetate  in  ignorance  of  the  gigantic  forces 
in  action  in  the  universe.  The  day  will  come 
when  i^hysical  science  wUl  discover  in  light  the 
principle  of  every  movement  and  the  inner 
reason  of  things.  Already  within  the  last  few 
years  spectrum  analysis  has  demonstrated  to 
you  that  by  the  examination  of  a  luminous  ray 
from  the  Sun,  or  from  a  Star,  you  can  learn 
what  substances  constitute  that  Sun  and  that 
Star.  Already  you  can  determine,  across  a  dis- 
tance of  millions  and  millions  of  miles,  the 
nature  of  celestial  bodies  from  which  a  ray  of 

light  has  come  to  you  !     And  the  study  of  light 
223 


LUMEN 

will  afford  still  more  splendid  results,  both  in 
experimental  science,  and  in  its  application  to 
the  philosophy  of  the  universe. 

But  the  refraction  of  the  earth's  atmosphere 
is  projecting  beyond  the  zenith  the  light  shed 
forth  by  the  distant  Sun.  The  vibrations  of  the 
light  of  day  will  let  me  talk  with  you  no  longer. 
Farewell,  my  good  friend.  Farewell !  or  rather, 
Anticipa-  au  revoir  !  Great  things  are  going  to  happen 
around  you.  After  the  storm  I  shall  perhaps 
return  for  one  last  visit  to  give  you  proof  of 
my  existence,  and  to  show  that  I  have  not 
forgotten  you.  Then,  later,  when  your  life 
upon  this  little  planet  is  done,  I  shall  come  to 
you  once  more,  and  together  we  will  take  our 
real  journey  through  the  unspeakable  splen- 
dours of  speed.  Nor  can  you  ever,  in  your 
wildest  dreams,  form  even  a  faint  idea  of 
the  stupendous  surprises,  the  inconceivable 
wonders  which  there  await  you. 


THE   END 


Date  Due 

/ 


'■fa 


